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CHAPTER V. 



1851—1860. 



In the opening year of this decade the Society sustained a 

 heavy loss by the death of the President, the Earl of Derby, 

 whose interest in the Garden establishment was shown by 

 his many donations and the frequent exchanges effected 

 between Regent's Park and Knowsley. He was one of the 

 original members, and acted on the Farm Committee ; and 

 his communications to the scientific meetings were always of 

 a practical nature, in this respect following the lines of work 

 which Sir Humphry Davy is credited with having laid down. 

 To him was due the introduction of the eland and some 

 other species into this country ; and he always hoped that these 

 fine antelopes might be turned to practical account as park 

 animals and for the table. His death took place on July 2, 

 and the Council were so fortunate as "to obtain the assent 

 of H.R.H. Prince Albert to their request that he would honour 

 the Society by accepting the vacant office." As the Prince 

 was not a Fellow he was admitted at a special meeting of 

 the Council on July 19, as a necessary qualification for the 

 Chair, which he repeatedly occupied, and his firm signature, 

 "Albert," was in due form appended to the minutes. 



The change was announced to the Society at the Annual 

 Meeting in 1852 ; when the Council put on record the following 

 appreciadon of their late President: 



The late Earl of Derby was intimately connected with the Society from 

 its first foundation, in which Sir Humphry Davy, Sir Stamford Raffles, 

 the late Earl of Auckland,* and other friends of science co-operated with 

 him. On the retirement of the Marquess of Lansdowne from the 

 President's chair, the Earl of Derby, at the solicitation of the Council, 



♦ To this distinguished nobleman the Society was indebted for the most efficient 

 support from its earliest foundation, in which he bore an active share with Sir 

 Stamford Raffles, Sir Humphry Davy, and the late Earl of Derby. — D. W. 

 Mitchell's Guide (1852), p. 8. 



