IN MEMORIAM : WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON, LL.D., F.R.S. 3 1 



his acquaintance and were fired with the same zeal for scientific 

 work which permeated himself; nor was it among these only that 

 he proved helpful, for he stimulated many others too. 



As a man he was genial, cheerful, shrewd, observant, social, and 

 pleasant company j and here I may venture to insert an interesting 

 communication respecting him, for which I am indebted to the kind 

 generosity of H. C. Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., who writes : ' I first 

 made the acquaintance of Professor Williamson about 45 years ago 

 in a railway carriage, when we were both returning from Scarborough. 

 I afterwards went to spend a day with him during a visit to my 

 cousin, Mr. James Nasmyth, when he was practising as a surgeon at 

 Manchester. He took me to the interesting deposits of limestone 

 at Ardwick, and showed me the microscopical sections he had 

 prepared of the teeth and scales of fossil fishes. He was then also 

 preparing sections of fossil plants. I had never previously seen such 

 sections, and on my return home I prepared some myself, and was 

 very soon led to extend the method to limestones, slates, and other 

 rocks. He was thus largely instrumental in leading me to develop 

 that subject, which has since grown to be so extensive. I think the 

 next time we met was long after, when we were the recipients of the 

 Royal Medals of the Royal Society. Afterwards I occasionally met 

 him in Manchester and London, but we had then progressed in very 

 distinct branches of study, and our conversation was mainly in 

 connection with w*ater-colour landscape drawing and other subjects 

 not directly connected with science.' 



The last decade of Professor Williamson's life was marked by 

 unabated scientific enthusiasm and toil ; no doubt the happy 

 influences of a peaceful home and the companionship of a lady in 

 every way fitted to minister to his wants were an immense help to 

 him. Dr. Williamson was twice married, and his second wife, then 

 Annie Copley Heaton, the niece of Sir Henry Mitchell, was staying 

 with her uncle during the British Association Meeting held at 

 Bradford in 1873 ; they there met, where the professor was a guest, 

 and from there were married in 1874. All who have been the guests 

 of Dr. Williamson and his wife will know how very happy that union 

 was, how valuable a helpmeet he found in one who so gracefully 

 directed the charming establishment at Fallowfield, with its botanical 

 gardens and rich stores of scientific material. The professor, too, seems 

 to have been very fortunate in his children : his daughter, a son 

 by the first marriage (practising now as a successful solicitor in 

 Manchester), and a younger son (devoted to art) by his second 

 marriage. We shall never forget the picture presented on the garden 

 at Fallowfield, at an ■ At Home,' held during the visit of the British 



Jan. 1896, 



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