Obituary

OBITUARY WING-COMMANDER W. V. DUMBRECK By the death on 2nd April, 1967, of Wing-Commander W. V. Dumbreck, after a long illness, the Society lost one of its most loyal and valued members. By reason both of his astute understanding of affairs and in respect of his scholarship he served the Society weU. Elected to Council in 1955, he was appointed one of the Trustees from the following year and, from its inception in 1958, was a member of the Records Pubhcation Committee. He took a close and careful interest in the Society's Library and was always much concerned by the difficulties raised in the proper safeguarding and use of that collection. Mr. Dumbreck was resident at Hadlow from 1925 and to the extent which his agricultural interests and public service allowed, studied deeply the history and development of his chosen area of which he was the recognized authority. He seldom ventured into print, but when he did so it was with the force of accumulated knowledge and many students of Hadlow and Tonbridge had good cause to thank him for the painstaking collection of evidence so readily made accessible to others in need. His great interest in matters of local history also resulted in his valuable association with the County Local History Committee, of which he was for a time Vice-Chairman, and latterly in his membership of the County Archives Committee. Those of us who had the privilege to work with Mr. Dumbreck knew something of the measure of this man, the quahty of his advice and guidance and his unfailing kindness to aU who genuinely sought to reveal more of the story of this corner of England. F.H. 311