OBITUARY NOTICE. 



WILLIAM MOSS, F.C.A. 



By R. STANDEN. 



(Read before the Society, November 12th, 1913). 



(With Portrait). 



By the death of Mr. William Moss, which took place at his residence 

 at Ashton-under-Lyne, after a short illness, on the 1 7th of June last, 

 the Society loses a prominent and highly-respected member, who for 

 many years had been a welcome figure at our meetings, where he will 

 be greatly missed. 



Mr. Moss was the son of the late Mr. Benjamin Moss, of Hurst, 

 and was born on January 3rd, 1845. On leaving school he entered 

 as pupil teacher at the Hurst British School, but as the scholastic 

 profession did not appeal to him, he eventually commenced business 

 in Ashton as accountant and estate agent. In course of time he took 

 a practical part in many local concerns, and became noted as an 

 expert in arbitration cases and Government Board enquiries. He very 

 early became interested in natural history, and all his life kept in 

 touch with the results of research and discovery, reading everything 

 he could obtain bearing upon them, and not fearing to express his 

 opinions thereon. 



Mr. Moss joined this Society in 1891, and for a number of years 

 served on the Council. He was a regular attendant at the meetings 

 until quite recently, when failing health prevented him from venturing 

 out in the evenings. His last appearance amongst us was on the 

 occasion of the joint meeting of the Yorkshire and Lancashire mem- 

 bers on Saturday, April 12th, 1913. He was one of the original 

 members of the Malacological Society of London, and for over thirty 

 years a member of the Manchester Microscopical Society. He con- 

 tributed some valuable papers to each of these societies, and also to 

 our own. 



About forty years ago he was keenly interested in geology, and, in 

 the congenial companionship of his friends Mr. J. H. Grundy and 

 the late Mr, Robert Cairns, carried out exhaustive researches into 

 the Palaeontology of the numerous coal-pits around Ashton. In course 

 of time these researches were extended into the rich Carboniferous 

 areas of Clitheroe, Ingleton, the Isle of Man, Castleton, Derbyshire, 



