Obituary: The Rev. Waterman Gardner-Waterman

( 273 ) ®bit\mvp. THE REV. WATERMAN GARDNER-WATERMAN, M.A. The news of the tragicaUy sudden death on October 7th (1930) of the Rev. W. Gardner-Waterman came as a very severe shock to a wide circle of his friends, and not least to those who, as members of our Society, had been brought into close contact with him. A Man of Kent born and bred, Gardner-Waterman spent the whole of his hfe in the county. He joined the Kent Archaeological Society as far back as 1877, and for more than fifty years was one of our most active members. For many years he had charge of the arrangements in connection with the carriages during the annual excursion, a difficult and somewhat thankless task, which, however, he performed with invariable efficiency and courtesy. Elected a member of the Council in 1900, his sound judgment, practical outlook, and extensive knowledge of the history of the county were much appreciated by his colleagues, who later appointed him to the office of Financial Secretary. It was an office for which he was particularly well qualified—figures had no terrors for Gardner-Waterman, who possessed real talent for accountancy ; and so weh did he apply it that the confusion in our financial affairs, which had given rise to some anxiety, was speedily reduced to order. In 1924 he resigned the Financial Secretaryship and was appointed a Vice-President of the Society. Mr. Gardner-Waterman's contributions to our publications were not numerous—the cares and duties of a large parish are not conducive to hterary output;—but his description of the Church Plate of the Deanery of Sutton, pubhshed in Vol. XXVI. of Archceologia Cantiana, is a sound piece of work, illustrated with photographs from his own camera, which, by the way, was always at the service of his friends. To Vol. XXXVI. of Arch. Cant, he contributed a useful Index of papers pubhshed in Vols. XX. to XXXV. His body was laid to rest, by his own desire, in Harrietsham Churchyard, on October 11th. R.I.P. 22