BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 



March was again attacked by the same illness accom- 

 panied by tonsilitis. Even then he refused, in the 

 face of the doctor's serious warnings, to give in or 

 to take a holiday. He felt that things were shaping 

 well and he could not abandon them just then. With 

 extraordinary fortitude he struggled through the illness 

 and carried on his work till June, when certain dis- 

 quieting symptoms of breathlessness showed them- 

 selves. Several specialists were consulted, but none of 

 them could actually point to the real cause of the 

 trouble. The opinions inclined to overstrain of nerves, 

 and a holiday was insisted on. In the middle of June 

 he went to Eastbourne. He enjoyed the change, but 

 the alarming symptoms did not abate. Suddenly, 

 without a moment's warning, he died of heart failure 

 on June 26, 1915. 



His devotion to duty cost him his life. As one of 

 his chiefs at the Board wrote : 



' He gave his life for his country as much as if he 

 had fallen on the fields of France.' 



It was only given to a few to realize the extraordinary 

 depths and beauty of his nature. He was shy and 

 reserved in society, and yet in his own four walls he 

 was full of whimsical humour. He could not suffer 

 fools gladly, and his hatred of humbugs both great 

 and small was as fiery as Huxley's. An old college 

 friend, writing about the photograph which prefaces 

 this note, said : 



' The photograph is quite the best of R. H. that I've 

 ever seen. I can't tell you how glad I am to have it. 

 He looks as though he were imploring me not to be 



xviii 



