CVlll PKOCEKDINGS OF THE 



which contains a good deal of instructive and interesting 

 matter. 



Captain Wilfred DaMn 8pee7\ F.H.G.S., F.Z.S., a magistrate 

 of the county of Surrey, was born on the 19th of October 1835, 

 the eldest son of the llev. "Wilfred Speer, Incumbent; of the 

 parishes of Thames Ditton and West Moulsey. 



After a school education at Beckenham, and subsequently at 

 Hampton, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, with the inten- 

 tion of eventually studying the law, and proceeded to the degree 

 of M.A. 



On the death of his father in October, 1856, having come into 

 possession of an estate of considerable annual value, he relinquished 

 his intention of going to the bar, and obtained a commission in 

 the 1st Middlesex MUitia. 



In September 1859, Captain Speer went to India on a sporting 

 expedition, and crossed the Himalayas into Thibet and Chinese 

 Tartary. From this expedition he returned in May 1802, 

 bringing with him numerous skins and horns, and other articles 

 which he had collected during his travels, together with a number 

 of most interesting photographic views of the places he had visited. 

 Shortly after his return to England he exchanged from the 1st 

 Middlesex to the 3rd Surrey Militia. 



In November 18G4j, he again proceeded to India, on a second 

 sporting expedition, and shortly after his arrival there joined the 

 British Army, then invading Bhootan, in which he served as a 

 volunteer. But having been attacked with fever, he returned to 

 England in June 1865, In September 1866 his untiring zeal led 

 him to undertake a sporting expedition to Canada, whence he sub- 

 sequently visited several of the southern states of America, and, 

 passing through the seat of the late war, he proceeded to Cuba, 

 returning to Canada in the spring of 1867. He then determined 

 to cross the Kocky Mountains and visit the Mormon Settlements, 

 and afterwards California, and thence return to England. In the 

 early part of May last, in prosecution of this design, he proceeded to 

 St. Louis on the Missouri with the intention of going by steamer to 

 Fort Brinton, at the foot of the Bocky Mountains. He embarked 

 accordingly in the steamer Octavia, on board which vessel he was 

 shot in the night of the 7th of June, by a soldier belonging to the 

 the United States Army, who had been poated on deck as a sentry 

 to guard from a night attack from the Indians, But it would 

 appear that strong reasons exist for believing that the act was one 



