OBITUARY NOTICES. 
the greatest crime,” said Lord Kimberley, “which anyone can commit 
on my estate, is to kill an Owl.” 
While we like to remember that the Earl of Kimberley was 
eminently gifted with those qualities which go to the making of 
an English country gentleman, and that he took an active part in 
the work of the County Council and in all that concerned the 
interests of his neighbours, we do not forget that he was also 
a distinguished statesman, the long list of whose services to the 
State is a record of which Norfolk may well be proud. 
The Earl too was proud of his county. On one occasion when 
speaking of the long connection of his family with Norfolk, he 
said that he could boast that this had lasted for more than 500 
years, and that the Wodehouses had lived uninterruptedly in the 
same place, from the end of the 14th century, the estate having 
descended in a direct line during that time. During his tenure 
of office as Colonial Secretary, the name of the Norfolk village 
from which he took his title, was given to a spot in South Africa, 
afterwards to become famous in the world ; and though at the 
time of Lord Kimberley’s death the thoughts of men were turned 
to the last resting-place on the Matoppo Hills of Cecil Rhodes who 
made it famous, yet the thoughts of not a few were recalled with 
feelings of affectionate regret to the little church in Norfolk, where 
John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, had been laid to rest. 
Mr. Francis I)ix had been for many years a member of our 
Society and we shall long remember his genial presence at our 
meetings, and the many pleasant excursions which we have taken, 
with him as our conductor. Mr. Dix in early and middle life was 
engaged in farming at Dickleburgh and for thirty-six years from 
January, 1839, he kept a record of the rainfall at that place, which 
record was afterwards continued in Norwich, and in February, 1889, 
he read a paper at our meeting on fifty years’ rainfall, and twelve 
years later he exhibited a chart of the rainfall of the 19th century; 
his notes on which, with a summary, were also printed in our 
Transactions. In addition to his interest in meteorology, Mr. 
Dix occupied much of his leisure in the study of astronomy and 
the phenomena of electricity. On one occasion he astonished his 
neighbours by experimenting on the effect on growing crops of the 
passage of the electric current through wires stretched on the 
plants, his friends exclaiming in wonder : “ Here’s Quaker Dix 
