Obituaries

( 76 ) WILLIAM HOWARD AYMER VALLANCE. IN our old friend's death on July 16th, 1943, at the age of 81, the Society has suffered a great loss. From Vallance's youth at Aymers, Lynsted-his Father's home-he was devoted to Early Art and thia predilection started him collecting old oak furniture at the age of 19. Educated at Harrow he went on to Oriel College, Oxford, where he took bis M.A. degree. Some three years later he settled in London and seriously engaged in the study more especially of ecclesiastical art. For some years he was a lecturer on Gothic Architecture to the Archi. tectural Association, at the same time working for The Art JfYUrnal and The Studio, excellent draughtsman and designer as he was. He did much in these latter lines for Church embroidery : with all this he was a skilled photographer with a strong leaning towards work of the Middle Ages. He had tmvelled widely on the ('.,ontinent, always making notes, sketching and photographing. Thus he amassed a large coJleotion of negatives and slides. This valuable material was given ten years ago to the Courtauld Institute of Art, and numbered many hundreds. Vallance's interest extended to ancient bridges and timbered houses. His knowledge of the construction of the latter went into the smallest detail. This was seen in 1920 when he purchased a derelict hall-house at Otham. Stoneaore, dated 1480, well repaid bis enthusiastic care. In its reconstructed state it evoked great interest among the members of the Society who visited it and were entertained there by Mr. and Mrs. Vallance in 1927. It was handed over to the National Trust in 1929. Vallance wrote three standard books-Old Grosses and Ltychgates, 1920 ; Old Colleges of Oxford, and English Church Screens. The last, published in 1939, waa 1·eviewed in Archaeologia Oantiana. He had finished a fourth volume on Cathedral Screens., This, held up from publication through the War, is in the. hands of Mr. E.T. Long, F.S.A.; his literary executor. He had been a member of this Society since 1883, and had acted as Hon. Editor for Volumes XXXill to XLI (1918-29) ; 24 papers and important notes from bis pen have been published in our pages. · He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1895 and was a particularly active and useful memberof the Royal Archreological Institute. At the latter's summer meetings h e frequently lectured and spoke. These notes owe much to material kindly supplied by MrR. Valla.nee to the writer. W.P.D.S. OBITUARIES. 77 DR. F. WILLIAM COCK, J.P., M.D., M.S., F.S.A. BY the death of Dr. F. William Cock on October 9th, 1943, at his home The Well House, Appledore, the Society has lost another of its older members within a month of his 85th birthday. Dr. Cock became .a member of the Society in 1898 and later on was for many years a member of its Council and a Trustee. Dr. Cock came of an old Marsh family of which he had records for many ye􀆩rs. He could trace his descent from William Cock the smith who made some of the iron work for Lydd Church in 1432. IDs grandpa.rents, William and Ann Cock came to Court Lodge, Appledore, in 1830 and their son, afterwards Dr. Frederick Cock, M.D., M.R.C.P., was born there and after some yea.ra at Ashford Grammar School went to Boulogne and began his study of Medicine in France. He returned to. England and became a student at University College Hospital and qualified M.R.C.S. in 1851. Owing to a severe attack of typhus, his ,course in Londo.p was interrupted and he took his M.D. in Edinburgh m 1853. He spent another year of study in Paris and Berlin and in 1856 married and settled down in practice in Westbourne Grove, as a physician and anaesthetist. Here in 1858 the subject of our memoir was born. After pMsing through University College School and College, he went, to Durham University, of which he became M.B. and M.S., with first-class honours in 1884, and M.D. in 1886. He had previously become M.R.O.S. in 1883. He ,va.s a medallist in Physiology and ,Chemistry in University College, London, a member and past-President of the Harveian Society. He followed his father as a physician and .anaesthetist in Westbourne Grove for many years, spending his holidays in the Marsh and eventually retiring to live there. He married in 1898, Frances, daughter of Alfred Evans, Esq., of Exeter. She predeceased him in 1937. In 1902 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. For many years he was a county magistrate and was most regular in· his attendance on the bench at Ashford. For .58 years he had taken out a gun licence. Apart from his medical studies, his chief delighp was research into the antiquities of Kent, and especially of Romney Marsh, on which he was probably the greatest, living authority. In his long life he had made a great collection of books and manuscripts connected with the history of Kent and of the Marsh, and was always most generous of his time and trouble in helping any inquirer or student. He contributed seven papers to Archaeologia Oantiana which may be found in the Index and later volumes. He wrote an account of Appledore Church, which he and his family did much to adorn and beautify. For this he had the help of his great friend the late Godfrey Humphry, who re-set the old leaded work and re-glazed some windows with very charming glass. 78 OBITUARIES. Dr. Cock was for many years a much valued member of the Diocesan Advisory Committee on Faculties, now the Committee for the Care of Churches. For the last two years his health and especially his sight bad been failing, but his mind \vas aa clear as ever up to the last day of his life. We shall all miss his cheerfulness and kindness and goodness; we shall treasure the memory of bis industry in research, his desire to share with others what he had learnt, and his unfailing charity. He never said an unkind or harsh word. God rest his soul ! R.U.P.