“The fifth brother, William, and the sixth, Edward, became students at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, to which institution their uncle, Dr. Peter Mere Latham and his father, Dr. John Latham, had been physicians. William’s health failing, he left London, and after a few years’ practice at Oxford, where he was surgeon to the Radcliffe Infirmary, he retired to Canterbury, and there died at a comparatively early age. Edward distinguished himself as a physician and as a naturalist. He too was debarred by bad health from practising in London, but in Brighton he became physician to the Sussex County Hospital, and was for many years the leading consultant of the town. He wrote several excellent papers on medical subjects, and his monograph on “British Social Wasps” brought him the fellowship of the Royal Society.
“The second brother, Wareing, and the fourth, Henry, started as solicitors in Manchester. Wareing left Manchester for Devonshire, living first at Chagford, on the borders of Dartmoor, and afterwards at Teignmouth. Geology was his favourite study. He compiled the Index for the publications of the Geological Society, of which he was a fellow, and he made many contributions to its journal.
“Henry Mere Ormerod continued to practise as a solicitor in Manchester till his death in 1898. He also managed his father’s Lancashire estates, and to him the other members of his family turned for legal and for practical advice. He was a churchwarden of the Collegiate Church, now the Cathedral, trustee of various important charities, active in all good movements, proud to be of Lancashire origin and a Manchester man. He possessed extensive knowledge and most varied interests. His collections of books, china, and prints were remarkable; and in such subjects as archæology, genealogy, architecture, geology, and certain branches of natural history he was an expert. It was he who presented to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in accordance with the wishes of his father, the author’s copy of the ‘History of Cheshire.’”]
Extract from Ormerod’s “History of Cheshire,” vol. iii. page 450 (1st edition), relative to the Original of Pl. [xviii].
“P. 238, Nantwich Hospital. The author has in his possession a singularly curious oak chest which he purchased at Erdswick Hall. It had been bought by the tenant at a sale at Hulgreve Hall (an estate of the Astons, who participated in the division of the religious spoil at the Reformation), and it was traditionally said to have come from this hospital. It appears to have been one of the chests used to keep vestments and chalices, &c., in, and is about two feet broad, by five in length, and two feet nine inches in height; at each end are two compartments, and in front five, all of which except the central one are sumptuously carved in imitation of rich Gothic windows with canopies, crockets, finials, buttresses, and shrine work. The centre represents the coronation of Henry VI., and the single rose occurs over the fleur-de-lis in the ornaments. The chest is figured in Plate 44 of ‘Specimens of Gothic Architecture in England,’ by Augustus Pugin, 1822; and a description is given at page 27.
“A chest, of a description precisely corresponding with it, was recently offered for sale at Liverpool, with the Brereton painted glass, and described as having been formerly the church chest at Ashton-under-Lyne.”
PLATE XVIII.
Antique Carved Chest, an Heirloom of the Ormerod Family.