77 



OBITUAEY. 



James William Tutt died at his residence, Rayleigh Villa, 

 Westcombe Hill, where he had lived since 1885, on January 10th, 

 1911, and was buried in the Cemetery at Lewisham on Saturday 

 the 14th. A large number of colleagues were assembled with 

 the family at the graveside, and wreaths were sent by the Ento- 

 mological Society of London, the South London Natural History 

 Society, the South Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, and a 

 host of private friends and admirers ; while special delegates 

 were present as representatives of the several Societies with 

 which he had been so closely associated. 



Mr. Tutt was only in his fifty-third year, having been born 

 on April 26th, 1858, at Strood, in Kent, where he was educated 

 at the St. Nicholas Schools from 1865 to 1875, after which time, 

 having determined on the scholastic profession, he proceeded to 

 St. Mark's Training College, Chelsea (1876-77), where he passed 

 Double-First in certificate examinations; obtained from the Board 

 of Education a profusion of certificates ; and matriculated in 

 the First Class in the University of London, but did not follow 

 it up to a degree. 



He early became Headmaster of Snowfields Board School, 

 and successively of Webb Street School and of the Higher Grade 

 School at Portman Place, and but a few months since was 

 appointed to the new Morpeth Street Central School, the first 

 of a departure in higher grade schools. In all these positions 

 his energy and organizing power were conspicuous, as well as 

 his ability to make the most of the boys under him, though he 

 felt that he was often thwarted by various items that may be 

 summed up as "red tape " ! 



In an address published in the ' E ntomologists' Record,' vol. vi. 

 p. 59, we find a few autobiographical items. He tells us that he 

 was first attracted to entomology at the age of thirteen, and, having 

 followed it up in a boyish way, but, no doubt, with his charac- 

 teristic energy and acumen, was at fifteen a confirmed entomo- 

 logist, and though his library was defective, he had, what was 

 decidedly more educative and useful, in the immediate vicinity 

 some of the finest collecting-ground in England — a matter of 

 first importance at that stage of his evolution. 



In 1881 he met Mr. Coverdale, a name little known to ento- 

 mologists, but clearly as enthusiastic, as active, and as fully 

 imbued with the scientific spirit as Tutt himself, some of the 

 Coverdale specimens and preparations in Mr. Tutt's possession 

 remaining to testify to this ; while there can be no question but 

 that this association was an important factor in guiding the 

 younger man into the line of entomological work in which he 

 became distinguished. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards Cover- 



