244 



The Thirty -Seventh Annual Meeting^ 



of Bishop Roger's having- had a nephew, or other near relative, who 

 was known as " Pauper/' i.e., " The Poor Man." But this eponym 

 was quite accounted for by the revenues of both uncle and nephew 

 having been confiscated by King Stephen, so, that the latter was 

 left with very inadequate means for keeping up the dignity of the 

 office of Chancellor, which had been bestowed upon him. And the 

 etymology of the surname Poore, as borne by Bishop Richard and 

 by his brother, appeared to have been entirely different from this, 

 for the author of the St. Osmund Register spoke of him as " a 

 wealthy and painstaking man/' 



Mr. Plenderleath added that he was sorry that this little 

 historical mistake should not sooner have been discovered, and been 

 corrected in the volume in which the record of it occurred. But he 

 thought that the Meeting would agree with him that, however late, 

 it was desirable that attention should now be called to it, and that 

 the Wiltshire Archaeological Society should not be responsible for 

 the existence of a Wiltshire castle-builder whose name was unknown 

 to history {hear, hear) . 



The company then separated, and proceeded first to St. John's 

 Church, and afterwards to St. Mary's — the architecture of both 

 Churches being briefly described by the Rector, Dr. Burges {cf. 

 vol. ii., p. 213—256, and vol. xix., p. 119 — 126), whilst a few 

 Members visited the Castle Grounds, which were kindly thrown 

 open to them for the occasion, thongh the house itself, being under 

 repair, was not shown. 



THE DINNER. 



At 6.30 thirty-one Members sat down to the Anniversary Dinner 

 at the Bear Hotel, at the conclusion of which the speechmaking 

 was cut very short. The Mayor (Mr. Gillman), in responding for 

 the Corporation, expressed his pleasure at welcoming the Society to 

 Devizes, and he trusted that one result at least of their visit would 

 be that the valuable deeds and charters belonging to the Corporation 

 — hitherto hidden away in a somewhat mouldy chest — would be 

 carefully framed and exhibited permanently in the Council 

 Chamber. 



