274 OUtuary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



have given a few private pupils the advantage of residing in his house. 

 In 1876, he was appointed a Governor of St. Paul's School, and in 

 1885, a Governor of Eton College. From 1855 to 1891 he was the 

 acting editor of " The Quarterly Journal of Mathematics," assisted first 

 by Sylvester, then by Cayley and other distinguished mathematicians. 

 He was elected an F.K.S. in 1877, being admitted on the same evening 

 as the late Emperor of Brazil. 



On October 12, 1880, Dr. Guest resigned the Mastership of the 

 College, dying about six weeks after, and Ferrers was elected to fill 

 the vacancy on October 27. He was admitted to the degree of D.D., 

 jure dignitatis, along with James Porter, the late Master of Peterhouse, 

 on June 7, 1881. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on 

 him at the University of Glasgow, in 1883. 



It was in the winter of 1879 that he felt the beginning of 

 those rheumatic symptoms which afterwards made him a complete 

 cripple. He thought nothing of them then, but no remedies could 

 stop the steady progress of the disease. He died at the Master's 

 Lodge, on January 31, 1903, at the age of 73. The burial service was 

 read in the chapel, crowded to its utmost extent, and at its termina- 

 tion, in accordance with the old custom in many colleges, the dead 

 Master was carried round the Court, preceded by the choristers and 

 followed by the members of the College and other friends. At the 

 Gate of Honour the Nunc Dimittis was sung and we bade farewell to 

 the body. His remains were subsequently cremated, and, as we were 

 informed, would finally rest in the chapel. 



Ferrers played an important part in University politics, being for 

 more than twenty years a member of the Council. This too was a time 

 which included some momentous periods in the history of the 

 University. He also held the high office of Vice-Chancellor during the 

 years 1884, 1885. He first came on the Council at a chance vacancy 

 in 1865, and had little doubt of being re-elected for a full term of four 

 years at the general election in November, 1866. Here, however, he 

 was doomed to disappointment for, the question of the admission of 

 Non-conformists to Fellowships having in the meantime come to the 

 front, his liberal ideas on that subject were not acceptable to the 

 majority of the electoral roll. This question formed the subject of 

 active discussion during the following years, but the controversy was 

 finally closed by the passing of the Tests Act in 1871. He was again 

 rejected at the election of 1868, but in 1872 the position had changed 

 and he was elected for a full period. Finally, in 1878, he was placed 

 at the head of the poll and retained his seat for sixteen years, when his 

 increasing illness obliged him to decline re-election. The University 

 Act was passed in 1877, and this again brought on a period of statute- 

 making. The tenure of Prize Fellowships was shortened, as Ferrers 



