514 The Fifty-Ninth General Meeting, 



and as Local Secretary for the Meeting, in his address of welcome, 

 spoke of the importance of the collections in the Museum, and 

 expressed a hope that in future some means might be found 

 whereby inhabitants of Devizes might obtain for a small sum the 

 right of entrance to the Museum without becoming Members of 

 the Society^ or having to pay every time they entered its doors. 

 The welcome extended by the Mayor was cordially endorsed by 

 ALDERMAN W. ROBBINS. The President of the Society, 

 MR. W. HEWARD BELL, F.G.S., F.S.A., thanked the Mayor and 

 the Local Committee for the way in which they had welcomed the 

 Society ; it was especially fitting that the civic fathers with their 

 insignia should be present to welcome a society which existed to 

 preserve and to record the links which bind the present with the 

 past history of our country. He then called on the Hon. Secretary 

 THE REV. E. H. GODDARD, to read the 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1911—12, 

 presented July 10th, 1912. 



"The Committee beg to present the fifty-ninth annual report 

 of the Society. 



" Members. — The Society on July 5th, 1912, had 379 Members 

 (16 Life Members and 363 Annual Subscribers), against 374 in 

 June, 1911, an increase of 5 Members, Thirty-eight new Members 

 were elected during the year, against 33 losses, nine by death and 

 24 by resignation. Amongst the losses the Society has especially 

 to deplore the deaths of its late distinguished President, Dr. John 

 Beddoe,F.R.S. ; of Dr. John Wordsworth,Bishop of Salisbury ; and of 

 Mr. Charles Awdry. To fill the post of President of the Society, 

 rendered vacant by Dr. Beddoe's death, the Committee has secured 

 the services of Mr. W. Heward Bell, F.G.S., F.S.A., who for very 

 many years has served on the Committee of the Society, and 

 has in various ways been one of its most staunch and generous 

 supporters. 



''Finance, — The accounts for the year 1911 will be printed in 

 the Magazine now due. The balance on the General Fund of the 

 Society at the end of the year was £108 15s. 3-|^., as compared 



