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it must have been nearly two years since he had been able to visit 
either Wells or Taunton. Mr. Skrine had been spending some 
weeks at Seaton, on the South Devon Coast, and being taken 
seriously ill there was hastily removed home. It was apparent 
that at last Mr. Skrine’s great resources of vitality were waning, 
and he became worse day by day, never leaving his bed after his 
return home. 
Mr. Skrine’s family history may be traced back many centuries. 
There is a tradition that when Philip of Spain came over to marry 
Mary in the middle of the 16th century, he was attended by one 
Don Eskrine. When Philip returned Don Eskrine did not, and 
was given a grant of land and the arms of Spain to wear. There 
is still in the possession of the family a portrait said to be of Don 
Eskrine, but there is not conclusive evidence of the story, and it is 
more probably true that Mr. Skrine belonged to an ancient family 
of County Durham. The manor of Warley was purchased in 1634 
by one Henry Skrine, and the now deceased Mr. H. D. Skrine 
himself acquired the Claverton estate, which once belonged to the 
postal reformer, Ralph Allen. Healso had property near Maiden- 
head. Mr. Skrine completed his education at Oxford, and left the 
University a highly-cultured English gentleman, with an inherited 
devotion for Church and State and a deeply-rooted love of nature. 
He spent his long life amid his charming estate, dividing his time 
and wealth between the educational and charitable institutions he 
found so glad of his help in the city of Bath, and his library and the 
many fascinating pursuits available about his charming house for the 
lover of nature. It may be recalled that the late Mr. H. D. Skrine 
was a painter of no ordinary ability, and some of his canvases 
representing scenes at Claverton, were the wonder of the last loan 
collection at the Art Gallery, when regarded as the quite recent works 
ofan octogenarian. Mr Skrine married a Suffolk ladynamed Miles, 
and had no less than eleven children. The eldest son (born in 1844) 
is Colonel H. Mills Skrine, of Warley, Hon. Col. of the rst V.B. 
Somerset L.I., and then in order of birth come Mr. Duncan W. H. 
