The life of Sir Robert Jones / [Frederick Watson].

  • Watson, Frederick, 1885-1935.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The life of Sir Robert Jones / [Frederick Watson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    another Alsatian, and Walter Bristow expeditiously forwarded an Irish Wolfhound called Barry, a benign dog but of quite unprecedented stature. During these months of failing strength, his genial habit of watching small boys at cricket, of speaking to other habitues, of surreptitiously slipping a trifle into the hands of unemployed men, or passing the time of day with ancient pensioners—all these little evidences of his unquenched love of human nature remained, and took on a new pathos and kindliness. After his death, his son received a letter from one of the park-keepers. If sentiment is a discredited emotion to-day, it may still claim its ramparts : “ Having had the honour and privilege of the friendship of your illustrious father for many years in my capacity as a Park- keeper in Princes Park, may I take this opportunity of writing to you to say how very sorry my two colleagues and myself were, to hear of the passing on of Sir Robert. We shall miss him very much, for the many years we have seen him taking his walks round the park, and especially on Sunday mornings and afternoons ; we shall miss him, I assure you, for it was a pleasure to meet him, to have his kindly greeting, which means so much to men in our humble station of life. Such genial- hearted men like Sir Robert make poor men feel proud to meet them, and I, in my capacity as a Park-keeper, have wit¬ nessed many acts of kindness Sir Robert bestowed upon poor unemployed men whom he passed on his walks round the park, and gave them a kind word to cheer them up. We along with countless others are the poorer for his passing.” This faculty was no mere surface habit. He carried this remarkable talisman of accomplishing sympathetic encounters into the remotest districts of Montgomeryshire. “ There was not a man, woman or child,” wrote the Montgomeryshire County Times after his death, “ who met him in one of the lanes of the county who did not feel better for seeing him.” Neither loss of strength nor limitation of opportunity could subdue this grace of heart. To the end he would have won T