260 
IN MEMORIAM : J. R. MORTIMER. 
During the middle years of his life, Mortimer regularly 
attended the meetings of the British Association, with a little 
group of Driffield friends interested in science, of whom he was 
the last survivor. I remember well how, almost at the beginning 
of our acquaintanceship, we were together at the famous Jubilee 
Meeting of the Association at York in 1881 ; and he was again 
present, for the last time, at the same place of meeting in 1906. 
Until the later years, he came to most of the East Riding meetings 
of our own Society ; and he was for many years the moving spirit 
in a Driffield Literary and Scientific Club, no^^' defunct. 
In spite of his long business experience, Mortimer never was 
able to master a constitutional diffidence which hampered him at 
public meetings, though onlj^ those intimate with him could realize 
how^ much he was affected by this deterrent. When at his ease, 
among friends, he showed a fund of charming light -heart edness, 
whimsical humour and quaint speculation which made his com- 
panionship alwaj^s delightful. His reminiscences of old village 
customs and of his boyhood on the Wolds were singularly vivid 
and full of interest for the student of folk-lore. In his youth he 
had a strong taste for mechanics and for astronomy ; and he 
always possessed a natural deftness and skill in fine handicraft, 
while his versatility in many other directions increased with years 
and never flagged. His kindly sympathetic disposition and 
native shrewdness were characteristics appreciable by all his 
acquaintances ; his rarer qualities were revealed perhaps only 
to those who knew him best. His work as an archaeologist of 
the ' good old school ' ensures that the memory of him will not 
be forgotten. 
G. W. Lamplugh. 
IKor Mr. Mortimer's photograph we are indebted to tlit- kimlness of tiic Kditor of 7'//f Xntit ralist , 
to whom we tender our thanks. Kd.) 
