|
West Wickham, on the outskirts of Croydon, where I was a
Parish Priest. 'Jimmy' was busily describing to a group of members of
the Society the series of figures of saints in the early Tudor glass for
which this church is noteworthy. I had just completed a paper on the
heraldic glass of the same period in the redbrick Tudor mansion - The Court
- a few yards away from the church. When he discovered this, 'Jimmy' was
immediately interested; as a result of this meeting we became firm friends,
and a few years later he managed to persuade the Society of Master Glass
Painters to publish in their journals our respective papers on the glass in
the Church and the Court.
Regular social meetings between ourselves followed, the last of
which was a lunch party at Canterbury in the summer of 1980, a few weeks
before Evelyn Councer died. Theirs was a happy partnership at home and at
work, for they were both officers in the Careers Structure of the County
Education Committee. It was about this time that his book, Lost Glass
from Kent Churches, was published by this Society in its Kent Records
series, this being a sideline of his attempt to make and publish a
comprehensive record of all the ancient glass in the County. At his death
the completed manuscript still awaits publication; his efforts over many
years to get it into print were frustrated again and again. Is it now too
much to hope
that, as a tribute to his memory, the Kent Archaeological Society
|
|
may now put in hand out of its funds the publication of a
work of major importance to the recorded history of the County's
antiquities?
D. INGRAM HILL
MAURICE ANTHONY CRANE, BA.
Universal sadness was apparent everywhere following Maurice's death on 9
June, 1993. He had contributed much to the teaching profession; to the
welfare, heritage and history of Adisham; to the Canterbury Archaeological
Society as a Past Chairman, and to the Kent Archaeological Society, as a
valued member of its Council and as the Society's Honorary Excursions
Secretary since 1983, where he displayed meticulous planning and
organisational skills, such that his Continental excursions and strawberry
teas at Dane Court in Adisham became legendary.
During those dark days of World War II, Maurice was a pupil at
Dartford Grammar School. His education was furthered at Goldsmiths College,
London (1950-52) and Portsmouth Technical College (1952-53). Already by
then he had developed interests in excavations and local history,
respectively in Portsmouth and editing the Bexley Antiquarian Society's
newsletter. continued
|