334 



NATURE 



[May 13, 1920 



at Eton, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 taking his degree as B.A. in 1870, and that of 

 M.A. three years later. It is rather remarkable 

 that he. did not "go in for honours," for he was 

 then so conspicuous a student of natural science 

 as to obtain successively a scholarship and a fel- 

 lowship by examination in those subjects, being 

 in each case the first elected to these distinctions 

 in Trinity College. 



In Pryor's days natural science was beginning 

 to look up in Cambridge, though it did not yet 

 lead directly to a degree, for its first Tripos exam- 

 ination, when the list was headed by Prof. 

 Liveing, was in 1858, four men being in the first 

 class, and two in the second. Until 1869 the 

 total number in all the classes rarely exceeded 

 ten, and sometimes sank down to four, and on 

 three occasions no one was in the first class. 

 Things have changed since then, for in the days 

 immediately before the war there would be some 

 120 or more in the three classes, as there doubt- 

 less will be again. But from 1870, when Pryor's 

 name would have appeared had he gone in for 

 the examination, the names of men who have 

 since won distinction are more often found in the 

 lists — such as H. Darwin (now Sir Horace) ; 

 W. M. Hicks, of Sidney, who turned from science 

 to theology and became Bishop of Bloemfontein ; 

 Garrod and Lydekker, Teall, Martin, Frank 

 Balfour, M. Hartog, and Sollas, now professor 

 of geology at Oxford, not to mention others. 



Pryor, however, so far as I know, wrote no 

 papers of importance on strictly scientific matters. 

 I do not find his name in the earlier volumes of 

 Nature, which began to appear in November, 

 1869, nor is it in my catalogue of collected papers 

 on scientific matters, which goes back to a still 

 earlier date. Yet he won distinction at Cambridge, 

 not only by his academic successes at Trinity, 

 but also from all who met him there in scientific 

 society. One could not be long with him without 

 getting the impression that one was talking with 

 a clear-headed man of strong intellect, who looked 

 at things all round before he spoke of them, and 

 expressed his views quietly and deliberately. He 

 had a large store of knowledge and was a keen 

 critic, yet never anything but kindly. He took a 

 special interest in ornithology, and was a frequent 

 member of that circle of young men of science 

 which the late Prof. Alfred Newton delighted to 

 gather round him on Sunday evenings after dinner 

 in his rooms at Magdalene, where much tobacco 

 was consumed and any amount of natural history 

 was talked. These gatherings indirectly extended 

 the interest felt in that subject in Cambridge, and 

 perhaps were an even greater incentive to its 

 study than any formal teaching by the professor. 



Soon after taking his degree Pryor left Cam- 

 bridge and entered on a business career in London, 

 settling down near Stevenage, where he inherited 

 from an uncle an estate called Weston Park. At 

 first he joined a firm of South American mer- 

 chants, and became a director of some important 

 joint-stock companies. The two with which he 

 NO. 2637, VOL. 105] 



was most closely and permanently connected — 

 and they were businesses requiring especially a 

 clear head and a sound judgment — were the Sun 

 Insurance Office and the Sun Life Assurance 

 Society, to each of which ]ie became chairman, 

 holding those offices until 1918. The prosperity 

 of these institutions was the chief work of his 

 later life, and he carefully studied the problems 

 of insurance in all its branches. It is said that 

 his views were strong and his business ideals 

 high, and that nothing short of the strictest 

 practice would ever satisfy him. But he was 

 regarded with real affection by the other members 

 of the boards, and to the younger of them his 

 great store of knowledge on all sorts of subjects 

 was a constant cause of wonder. Still, he kept 

 up his connection with his college and his uni- 

 versity, for he frequently came up to be present 

 at special social gatherings in the former, and in 

 later years took an active part in the endeavour 

 to collect funds to advance teaching in the latter, 

 which was gratefully acknowledged in a resolu- 

 tion passed the other day. Besides alL this, he 

 was a good Spanish scholar, and had paid much 

 attention to church architecture, especially in 

 Hertfordshire. He married Miss Alice Solly, of 

 Serge Hill, in that county, and has left six 

 daughters and one son. Col. Pryor, D.S.O., who 

 served in France and Italy. 



So, to the regret of many friends, Marlborough 

 Pryor is gone. He has left no conspicuous record 

 in the scientific annals of his generation, as once 

 seemed probable, but no one can say that his life 

 was wasted, because, while some men can serve 

 science the better by taking a prominent lead in 

 this or that branch of it, others can do it by the 

 catholicity of their knowledge and interests. Marl- 

 borough Pryor was among the latter, and each 

 has his work to do ; each is helpful to his genera- 

 tion ; for the one raises the towers ; the other, as 

 he did, builds the walls. 



T. G. BONNEY. 



Mr. J. A. Pott, who died recently at the age 

 of fifty-five, was a scholar whose importance as 

 a moving force in his generation cannot be esti- 

 mated by the popularity of his work during his 

 lifetime. As an archaeologist he contributed to the 

 Antiquary for 1904 two articles on Neolithic and 

 other remains found near Harlyn Bay, Cornwall. 

 He made the first translation into English of two 

 important treatises of Thomas k Kempis, entitled 

 "The Founders of the New Devotion," and the 

 "Chronicle of the Canons Regular of Mount St. 

 Agnes." These were followed by two series of 

 graceful renderings of poems from the Greek 

 Anthology. Just before his premature death, due 

 to overwork in recruiting during the war, he had 

 completed a verse and prose translation of the 

 Epigrams of Martial, which will shortly be pub- 

 lished. A fine scholar and man of letters, Mr. 

 Pott exercised an inspiring influence over a large 

 group of friends drawn from circles largely differ- 



