Obituaries

OBITUARIES Sm JoHN DUNLOP, K.B.E., O.1\II.G., M.C., T.D., M.A., LL.B., Ph.D. IT is with much regret that the Kent Archaeological Society records the death of Sir John Dunlop, which occurred on 28th April, 1974. He joined the Society in 1960, and was elected President on 13th May, 1967; but, due to ill health, he was compelled to resign after only a year's occupancy of the Presidential Chair, being at once elected an Honorary Vice-President. Sir John wa􀃢 educated at Mill Hill School and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was a History Scholar, becoming M.A. and LL.B. His keen interest in history resulted in the publication of 'A Short History of Germany', having served in that country as Consul-General in Hamburg from 1952-56; and, in 1964, he published 'The Pleasant Town of Sevenoaks: A History', where he resided after retirement in 1957. His services to his country in a wider field were considerable. He was appointed to the Allied Commission in Italy in 1943, and to the Control Commission for Germany three years later, receiving his knighthood in 1956. He was particularly interested in the British Army, in which he rose to the rank of Brigadier, and he was especially concerned with the Territorial Army, devoting time and energy in writing and lecturing on its behalf. His other interests embraced music, opera and travel, and his knowledge and experience, expressed often in his conversation, were the product of an erudite and cultivated mind. To those who knew him well he will long be missed, and his association with the Kent Archaeological Society will be gratefully remembered. G.W.M. MR. J. H. EVANS, F.S.A. Mr. John H. Evans, one of the Society's vice-presidents, died on 10th November, 1974:, shortly before completing fifty years of membership. Born in 1889, Mr. Evans led a very active professional life in the course of which he rose to become general manager of the Iranian Petroleum Company's oil refinery on the Isle of Grain and found an outlet for his many scholarly interests in the work of our Society, which he joined in 1925. His election as Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1948 marked his real contributions to archaeological 235 OBITUARIES studies. He was elected to the Council of this Society in 1949, and the following year he joined our vice-president, Mr. R. F. Jessup, F.S.A., in becoming co-editor of Archaeowgia Gantiana, and honorary editor in 1956, an office which he held until his resignation owing to ill health in 1969. Mr. Evans was keenly interested in a wide range of subjects, which were reflected in his large library, perhaps the study of the Arthurian period being closest to his heart, and in the pages of past volumes of Archaeologia Gantiana will be found many witnesses to his erudition. Above all, Mr. Evans possessed a lively and enquiring mind, was a man of immense kindness and one who always sought to encourage others; his interest in the personal life of his friends who could count on his unwavering support and generosity and his tolerance of human frailties will remain ever-present in one's mind. Following a, long list of distinguished predecessors, Mr. Evans stamped his own personality on Archaeologia Oantiana, which he raised to the international esteem it now enjoys and which will rightly stand in the years to come as the lasting memorial of a faithful servant of this Society and a loyal friend sans peur et sans reproche. In extending our sincere sympathy to his family for their sad loss, we give thanks for the fruitfulness of his life and the boon of his friendship. Admiratione te et immortalibus l,a,udibus et, si natura suppeditet, simulitudine col,a,mus. A.P.D .Ar.AN ALFRED ROGER M.A:R.TIN, F.S.A. Roger Martin, who died on 22nd April 1974, was an antiquary of note. Born in Blackheath in 1901, he became a solicitor and retired from a senior post at the Treasury Solicitor's office in 1965. His lifelong interests were antiquities, architecture and history, especially when concerned with south-east London. He was elected F.S.A. before 1928 and was recently made an Honorary Life Member of the Royal Archaeological Institute. During the 1930s he published the standard work on Franciscan architecture in Britain, which enhanced his reputation for detailed research and scholarship, while his monograph on Charlton House and his study of the church at Cliffe-atHoo (Aroh. Gant., xli (1929), 71-88) were classics of their kind. There is no exaggeration in saying that the survival of much of eighteenth and early nineteenth century Greenwich and Lewisham is almost entirely due to Roger Martin's efforts, for he championed the merits of Georgian architecture when many thought it of little value. He wa.s co-founder in 1937 of the Blackheath Society, aimed at ensuring the 236 OBITUARIES wise guidance of new developments, and in 1938 of the Blackheath Preservation Trust. A skilled and enthusiastic photographer, he formed a unique collection, including a photographic survey of Bla,ckheath in 1937-39, which is now at the National Monuments Record, with other rare and valuable research material divided between the Greenwich Local History Centre and certain national bodies. Although an intensely shy man and suffering from failing eyesight, he never stinted help to the serious enquirer. The debt of gratitude owed to him by his chosen district is incalculable, his loss irreparable. D.E.W. 237