Law administration in Bethnal Green has formed an effective contrast with that of other East End Unions.
To the casual acquaintance he was known generally as a witty and agreeable companion and a good sportsman, in the best sense of the word, and only a few intimate friends were really cognisant of the great amount of time, labour, and research which he devoted to Poor Law and Charity Organisation work.
His chief interest, even in sport, always consisted in giving entertainment to his many friends and the younger members of his own family.
It is an indication of the confidence which was reposed in his judgment by all those with whom he was brought into contact, that at the time of his death he was a member of thirty-five Committees of various kinds, and had it not been for his extreme dislike of any kind of notoriety he might well have taken a leading part in political and civic life.
Amongst his papers was found a slip written shortly before his death, with the following quotation from Montaigne:—
"Je veux … que la mort me trouve plantant mes choux, mais nonchalant d'elle, et encore plus de mon jardin imparfait;"
and these essays are a small part of the fruit of that unfinished garden.
His last illness was probably due to his assiduous attendance at the Bethnal Green Appeal Tribunal during the winter of 1916-17 for long hours and in all weathers.
1 Princes Mansions,
Victoria Street, S.W. 1.
