ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING.

Tuesday, May 14th, 1918.

The annual general meeting of the Field Club was held in the Reading Room of the County Museum at Dorchester on Tuesday, May 14th. The President (Mr. Nelson M. Richardson) was in the chair and was supported by three Vice Presidents, -the Rev. Herbert Pentin, Captain J. E. Acland, and Mr. Alfred Pope. About twenty members of the Club were present.

Two candidates for membership were nominated.

The PRESIDENT delivered his annual address, the fourteenth since his first election to the chair. It will be found printed on pages 1-19 of this volume.

Mr. POPE proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Richardson for his learned, valuable, and interesting address ranging over a vast field of research. This was carried with acclamation. The HON. SECRETARY read his report for the year 1917-8 which was as follows:

There is very little to report this year. No meetings were held in the summer, owing to the war, and the attendance at the winter meetings has been small. But the winter meetings have kept the Club

carrying on," as papers have been read thereat which have formed the bulk of the annual volume of Proceedings. The membership of the Club continues to decrease little by little, and now stands at under 320.

The HON. TREASURER then presented his account of the receipts and expenditure during the past year. (It will be found on page xli.). The balance sheet showed that the Club was in a very satisfactory financial position, although he regretted that, notwithstanding repeated applications, a considerable number of members had not yet paid their subscriptions.

The HON. EDITOR read the following report :

I very much regret the delay in the issue of the volume of the Proceedings of the Dorset Field Club for the year 1917. It has been mainly due to the pressure of other work which has prevented the editor of the Phenological Report from sending in even a portion of

his notes for the year 1916 until quite recently. As, however, he informs me that his Report for 1917 "is well under way," and as, practically the whole of the other matter is in hand, I shall be disappointed if the volume for 1918 is not published in much better time. The new volume will contain papers on New Species of Birds observed in Dorset since the publication of Mr. Mansel-Pleydell's 'Birds of Dorset' in 1888," by the Rev. F. L. Blathwayt; "Some Unrecorded Deans of Wimborne," by the Editor, Canon Fletcher; "Notes on the coins believed to have been struck at Sandsfoot Castle and Weymouth, in 1643-44," by Mr. Henry Symonds; " Pipe Leases of Dorset," by Mr. E. A. Fry; Abbot Bere's Terrier of the Marnhull Estate," by Canon Mayo.* The volume will also contain the official accounts of the two winter meetings and of the annual meeting of the Club, with returns of Rainfall in Dorset in 1917, and the Phenological Report on first appearances of Birds, Reptiles, and Insects, &c., and the first flowering of Plants in the County during the past year, with other Nature Notes.

The PRESIDENT stated that, owing to the prohibition of photography during the war, the work of the Dorset Photographic Survey is under suspension.

Captain ACLAND read the following notes on "The Principal Additions to the Dorset County Museum during the year, May, 1917-May, 1918."

Although I have nothing to refer to on this occasion of such interest as the original MS, of Barnes' Dorset Poems acquired last year, the Museum collections have been enriched by some exhibits well worthy of notice, which I will briefly describe.

At the death of the Rev. W. Cornish, for many years Rector of Winterbourne Steepleton, and a Member of the Dorset Field Club since 1902, his executors found in the Rectory a Bronze Axe-head and a Stone Hammer-head, both excellent types of their class, and both found on the glebe land, and therefore of special local interest. They were submitted to Mr. Reginald Smith at the British Museum, who kindly described them for me in the following words :-"The Bronze Celt is almost the earliest form in metal, and shows the beginnings of the stop-ridge. The grooving on both faces is no doubt meant as ornament, and the lozenge-shaped facets on the sides are fairly common, but in England the type is not nearly so often found as the palstave, or the socketed celt. The quartzite hammer, or Macehead, has the

* Canon Mayo's valuable paper is unavoidably postponed until a later Volume.-EDITOR.

'hourglass' shape perforation for the handle, which is taken to be Neolithic, as opposed to the straight drilling of the Bronze-age."

I have to thank the executors for enabling me to obtain these interesting objects.

Mrs. Baxter, of Sherborne, has presented to the Museum two beautifully designed instruments for measuring human skulls, by which the cephalic index is calculated, and some light may be thrown on the characteristics of those races whose remains are found in our sepulchral barrows. Our late member, Lieut.-Colonel Baxter, was much interested in this subject, and often visited the outlying villages of Dorset, carry. ing with him these instruments to take skull measurements of the inhabitants. There is a well known saying' Long barrows long heads; Round barrows round heads;' but in the Round-barrow period the population was of mixed races, and the rule could not hold good. At the present day the diversity of skull form is often very marked (e.g., Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Bonar Law). I feel sure that Mrs. Baxter would wish these instruments to be placed at the service of any member of the club who might like to carry on the investigations pursued by her husband.

It

Through the kindness of Mr. W. Hooper, we have acquired an iron spur found in his allotment ground in Victoria Park, Dorchester. is remarkable for the length of the neck or shank, and the size of the rowell, and may be assigned to the end of the XVth century, as that appears to be the only period when this type of spur was in common

use.

A well preserved relic of the XVIth Century has been added to our collection by Mr. Dicker. It is a large memorial stone measuring 2′ 2′′ by l′ 3′′ with fine bold cut inscription “E.B. 1565 A.B.” It was found and excavated by Mr. Dicker himself in a corner of the garden of No. 20, Trinity Street, Dorchester, and was probably built originally into the wall of a house over the doorway.

Coming one Century nearer to our own day, I may draw attention to the gift by Mrs. Perkins, St. Leonard's Terrace, Weymouth, of a beautifully embroidered pair of satin shoes, with a history sufficiently accurate to enable us to assign them to the later part of the XVIIth Century. Mrs. Perkins says: "The shoes belonged to Miss Mary Jenkins who died at Chetnole in 1850, aged 96. They are said to have been the wedding shoes of her great-grandmother." Mrs. Perkins gave at the same time three Dorset worked samplers, one of which is dated 1630, and the others 1787 and 1792.

In the Geological Department, we have obtained a gocd specimen of Ichthyosaurus, which, though much smaller than others in the Museum, is in a much better state of preservation. The full length would have been about 4ft., but the end of the snout is missing. It

was found many years ago at Lyme Regis, and is now presented by Mr. C. L. Warren.

The Corresponding Secretary of the Earthworks' Committee, Mr. C. S. PRIDEAUX, wrote :

"I have no report to make on behalf of the Earthworks' Committee. I have a few unimportant facts noted for future use, and shall always be too glad to hear from any of the members as to finds, mutilations, &c., which may come under their notice."

Mr. HENRY SYMONDS wrote as follows :—

"The Numismatic Section Committee have nothing to report for the past year.

The train service is now too bad for attendance at to-morrow's meeting, so the Government have achieved their purpose in part."

The Report of the Restored Churches Sectional Committee was read by the Rev. A. C. ALMACK, the Corresponding Secretary :

"The first object of the Committee was to secure, if possible, the assistance of a collector of information for each of the seventeen deaneries of the county. In this they were not altogether successful, and it will therefore be seen that from some deaneries no great amount of information relative to this inquiry has been obtained. To those who have given valuable assistance the thanks of the Committee and the Club are due.

The Committee limited their inquiry, according to their instructions, to the discovery of interesting features which had been lost in recent Restorations and Additions, and also have tried to avoid the repetition of changes which are already fully recorded in the last edition of Hutchins or in papers read before the Field Club; but in such cases have tried to give the references to these volumes. Many interesting facts will be found to be recorded; but we have also to report that in the case of many Churches the former features and conditions cannot now be exactly recovered, and in others appear to have been of no special mark of interest, and find no place in the following list. Some cases of the discovery of remains and features which were before unknown are also among our records.

The Forms of Inquiry sent out and returned have been carefully kept and arranged according to deaneries. They number about 200; but they do not represent all the work done, as in some cases the Rural Dean made report of all, and separate papers were not filled up.

The notes on the different Churches are herewith presented to the Field Club, and the Committee venture to hope that they may find a ermanent place in the published records of the Proceedings. The total number of Churches mentioned in this Report as having lost any features worthy of record will be found to be 108. Returns from a few more parishes were also obtained, but nothing worthy of printed record seemed to find a place in them. The detailed notes on each accompany this general statement of your Sub-Committee."

ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES. Mr. BARROW proposed the re-election of the able, painstaking, and courteous President, Mr. Nelson M. Richardson. Canon FLETCHER, in seconding, said that Mr. Richardson's wide knowledge of the natural sciences and of archæological subjects, coupled with his unfailing courtesy, qualified him pre-eminently for the post. The resolution was carried with acclamation.

Canon FLETCHER, in proposing the re-election of the Rev. Herbert Pentin as Honorary Secretary, said that he was a very busy man, having the duties of a military chaplaincy added to his parochial work and his literary studies, but that, forasmuch as the postponement of all outdoor meetings of the Club until after the war relieved the Secretary of a considerable portion of his work, they had less compunction in asking Mr. Pentin to accept the office again. This was seconded by Captain ACLAND, and carried with applause. The Hon. Secretary re-nominated Mr. H. Pouncy as assistant Secretary. Captain Acland was unanimously re-elected Hon. Treasurer, as was Canon Fletcher Hon. Editor.

The PRESIDENT nominated for the ensuing year the retiring Vice-Presidents, with the addition of Canon Fletcher, "who has done much and very distinguished work for the Club," and Mr. W. de C. Prideaux, "who, besides his work on brasses, &c., has done valuable service in important inventions."

The Sectional Committees.-The Directors of the Dorset Photographic Survey, the Earthworks Committee, the Numismatic Committee, and the Restored Churches' Committee were all re-elected.