Correspondence

To the Editors of " The Peterite." Dear Sirs,

May I take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Stevenson for his able coaching of the 1st and 2nd XV's this term. What successes the teams achieve is due to his tireless work, both on the field and off. I would also like to thank Mr. Rhodes for all the hard work he puts in with the Colts, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Wrenn for their handling of the more junior rugger.

Finally, I should like to thank Mrs. Toyne for the excellent teas she so kindly provides the teams. Yours faithfully,

J. W. STEAD, Captain of Rugger.

To the Editor of " The Peterite." Dear Sir,

The mantle of P. E. Lord, who many years ago radiated his pleasing personality on the pages of " The Peterite " seems lately to have fallen on shoulders of similar grace and competence.

I have read every number since the paper was launched by the versatile Fowler (that was not his name then), but have never found its contents more interesting than they are to-day.

As I have no idea who you are, Sir, my small tribute is as impersonal as it is spontaneous. As such I hope it may be found encouraging. Yours sincerely, J.H.C.

abituartes.

DR. ALAN GRAY.

Dr. Alan Gray, Mus. Doc., Fellow of Trinity College, died at Cambridge on September 27th in his eightieth year. Born at York, he was educated at St. Peter's and at Trinity ; he took his degree of LL.M. in 1883 and of Mus. Doc. in 1889. He was appointed musical director at Wellington College in 1883, and resigned that to become Stanford's successor at the Trinity organ, and in the conductorship of the University Musical Society in 1892.

He was a devoted son of Trinity, and the College reciprocated that feeling when it made him an Honorary Fellow on his resignation a few years ago.

He was primarily an organist, and his playing was distinguished by taste and good sense, his extemporisation by ingenuity and, what is much rarer, definite form. His four organ sonatas rank high in expert opinion.

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In the day when everyone wrote cantatas, two of his best, " Arethusa " and " The Rock Buoy Bell," were performed at Leeds and Hovingham. His own favourite was an anthem, " What Are These That Glow From Afar," written in 1916, when he had lost two sons in the war.

Gray was universally beloved. He had a creative genius for friendship. One who only saw him once for a moment said, " You did not think of externals, whether he was tall (he was 6 ft. 6 in.) or unwieldy (he always rumpled the chair cushions) ; you looked straight into the man."

He had a fund of accurate stories, told without an ounce of malice and with a quite disarming smile. FRANK MITCHELL.

Frank Mitchell died at Blackheath, on October 11th, at the age of 63. He was captain of both the cricket and rugby football teams at Cambridge, and later captained England at rugby football and South Africa at cricket.

Born in Yorkshire, and from his earliest youth brought up in the spirit of village matches in that county, he had a great success as a schoolboy at St. Peter's, where he was captain of cricket, rugby football and rowing. As a Freshman at Cambridge he at once got into the cricket and rugby football sides. He played four times against Oxford at Lord's, on each occasion, except in 1896, going in first, and his highest score was 43, in 1895. A powerful forward, he played rugby football for his University against Oxford in 1893-94-95. He also put the weight for Cambridge in 1896, and it was said that if he had so chosen he could also have kept goal for the University. He took honours in the Classical Tripos.

He first played cricket for Yorkshire in 1894, and during the winter of 1898-99 he did so well as a member of Lord Hawke's team in South Africa that he was given a regular place in the Yorkshire eleven in 1899. At a time when Yorkshire was resplendent with great players he was one of the most illustrious and valuable. He last appeared for his county in 1904, having scored 4,090 runs with an average of 34.35. In 1897 and 1901 he went to America in teams captained by B. J. T. Bosanquet and P. F. Warner respectively, and served in the Boer War with the Yorkshire Hussars. Business in South Africa kept him out of cricket for some time, but he came over to this country as captain of the South African team in 1912. He saw service in the Great War in the Royal Artillery (T.F.).

As a batsman he was essentially of the robust type, who believed in hard driving, particularly to the off side, and as a rugby forward he was a great worker and a grand tackler. A man whose name in his time spelt hero worship to the young, he became in his later years a wise counsellor and an extremely astute judge of what was good and what was amiss in the games he had so adorned. He was never afraid to say what he thought, and to his friends he was always generous and loyal. He will be sorely missed at Lord's and the Rectory Field, where recently he had spent so much of his time.