Obituary. — Henry Harold Welch Pearson. iii 
duty to help carry on the manifold activities which he had set in motion 
and bequeathed to the world.’ ‘ I shall always count it one of my greatest 
privileges to have been one of his students.’ 4 We have known the full 
benefit of his happy knack of infusing energy into every one he inspired, 
and we have been brought by him into a truer, more idealistic appreciation 
of science for science’s sake. A teacher-friend, we mourn an all-round loss.' 
Pearson played a leading part in the foundation of the National Garden 
at Kirstenbosch, which in the hands of competent successors should become 
one of the finest in the world. 
My first meeting with Pearson was in 1892 at Eastbourne as a student 
attending a ^course of lectures on ‘ Plant Life ’ which I was delivering as a 
University Extension Lecturer. During rambles on the shore in search of 
seaweeds he discussed with me the possibility of realizing his ambition to 
come to Cambridge, and from that time onwards it was my privilege to 
enjoy his friendship. In a letter written on April 4, 1916, after hearing of 
his election to the Royal Society, Pearson recalled the Eastbourne days : 
‘ I was a little surprised to find myself in the list this year : that I was 
pleased needs no statement. Under any circumstances I should appreciate 
the honour immensely ; under my particular circumstances I think I value 
it more than I should under some others — isolated here from the centre of 
the things that interest me, this distinction means a very great deal to me. 
I hope I deserve it. I am not quite sure, though I am grateful to you and 
others for saying and thinking that I do. ... I regard this as an outcome of 
those . . . lectures you gave at Eastbourne — but for them where I should 
have been I do not know, but I certainly should not have been here and 
almost certainly the Council of the Royal Society would never have heard 
of me.’ 
Writing from Kew after his appointment to the South African chair he 
said : ‘ I have always been fond of teaching. I even liked it when we 
made our Polysiphonia excursions at Eastbourne. I have had very 
valuable experience here, for which I believe I am the better. I certainly 
know more of systematic, economic, and administrative work than when I 
left Cambridge, and if I have become a bit rusty in some of the other 
branches I think the defects will not be difficult to remedy.’ His sub- 
sequent career demonstrated the value of his early training. He was 
always thoughtful of others, and expected those associated with him to do 
their share not only in teaching, but in the investigation of the numerous 
problems awaiting solution. In a letter asking for the names of possible 
men for an assistantship he added, * He must do research work, for which he 
will have as much time as I have ’. 
At one time when the financial outlook in Cape Colony was far from 
bright and the College was compelled to reduce the staff and the stipends 
of professors, and because family affairs in England required attention, he 
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