36 EEl'OET OF THE COMMITTEE. 



ture. They have further to acknowledge a bequest of £200 

 from the late Mr. John Taylor, who was for thirty years a 

 member of the Society and a benefactor to its funds. 



During the year the Committee have had to deplore the loss 

 of many of its oldest and influential members whose places it 

 will be hard to refill. Among these Lady Armstrong, Mr. 

 Joseph Blacklock, Mr. "Wm. Dinning, T. W. Embleton, Methley, 

 Leeds, and Mr. John Eogerson. Lady Armstrong became a 

 member of the Society in 1863, and from the first exerted her- 

 self in many ways for the welfare of the Society and took an 

 active interest in its progress. For many years her ladyship 

 subscribed annually ten guineas to the funds of the Society, and 

 through her generosity the invaluable collection of Local Coal- 

 measure Fossils collected and worked out by Mr. Thomas Atthey 

 was secured for the Museum. Lady Armstrong took great in- 

 terest in the erection of the new building at Barras Bridge and 

 contributed nearly £4,000 towards the funds, and afterwards 

 entirely furnished two rooms, one for the Committee and a 

 drawing room for ladies, at her own expense. 



Mr. William Dinning was elected a member and Secretary in 

 1874 and held this appointment for nearly twenty years. With 

 Mr. John Hancock he spent much time in preparing the plans 

 and other arrangements for the new building at Barras Bridge, 

 and so devotedly, that the Committee in their general report 

 in 1887 specially thanked him "for his careful foresight and 

 superintendence of the work in progress, but for which many 

 important details would have been left out or overlooked and 

 much time lost and extra expense incurred." This supervision 

 and attention to the welfare of the Museum Mr. Dinning con- 

 tinued until the last day of his life, at which time he was busy 

 with the alterations necessary for the display of his large collec- 

 tion of Fossil Fishes which he had formally bequeathed to the 

 Society. Mr. Dinning was from a child enthusiastically inclined 

 to the pursuits of Natural History, and as far as strict attention 

 to business would allow, spent considerable time in collecting 

 specimens and forming collections in several branches of JS'atural 

 History. 



