Keith Lucas. 



XXXI 



Hull's kindly spirit and geniality will long be remembered, especially by 

 those who took part in the friendly gatherings of the Eoyal Dublin Geological 

 Society and the Irish Microscopical Society. His long career extended from 

 the days of de la Beche, Sedgwick, Murchison, Lyell, and Prestwich through 

 those of Eamsay, Forbes, and Huxley down to the present day, from the 

 youthful period of our science to that of its full grown manhood as we see it 

 now. In all these surroundings of men and of progress, Edward Hull moved 

 and " played his part," and did his best to advance geological knowledge, both 

 in his full period of official life on the Survey and in the later years of his 

 activity as " a geologist at large," always striving to contribute his quota to 

 the " advancement of natural knowledge," for which, as a Fellow of this 

 Society, he was elected 50 years ago. 



H. W 



KEITH LUCAS, 1879-1916. 

 Part I. 



Keith Lucas was born March 8, 1879, and was killed on October 5, 1916, 

 when he was 37 years old. His death was caused by a collision with 

 another aeroplane in mid-air, when flying over Salisbury Plain, and was 

 instantaneous. 



He was the son of Francis Eobert Lucas and grandson of Ealph Willett 

 Lucas, a Lieutenant in the Eoyal Artillery who fought in the Battle of 

 Waterloo. His father, Francis Lucas, went as engineering pupil to the 

 Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, East Greenwich, when 

 he was 15 years of age and was one of the young engineers chosen to go out 

 in the S.S. " Great Eastern " when the first Atlantic cable was successfully 

 laid. He afterwards went in her on every voyage. After this he was made 

 manager of the works at Greenwich, but continued to go to sea and lay 

 cables until he had laid the Pacific or " All Eed Cable " round the world. He 

 then gave up the work at sea and became Managing Director of the Company. 

 During his life at the works he was continually inventing and improving the 

 machinery for cable manufacture and cable laying. Many of his inventions 

 have been adopted by the Admiralty as well as by cable companies. 



Keith Lucas' great-grandfather on his mother's side, Edward Eiddle, and 

 his grandfather, John Eiddle, were both good mathematicians, both were 

 Fellows of the Eoyal Astronomical Society, and both had great repiitations as 



VOL. xc. — B. Q 



