In private life his kindliness and courtesy won the hearts of all who came near him, young and old, rich and poor. He was tolerant towards those who differed from him in opinion: he steadily believed the best of other men in passing judgement on them. No mean thought, no malicious word, no petty quarrel marred the purity of his life. He had lost his best friends: Leighton in 1896, Burne-Jones three years later; but he enjoyed the devotion of his wife and the tranquillity of his home. Twice he refused the offer of a Baronetcy. The only honour which he accepted was the Order of Merit, which carried no title in society and was reserved for intellectual eminence and public service. At the age of 80 he presented to Eton College his picture of Sir Galahad, a fit emblem of his own lifelong quest. His last days of active work were spent on the second version of the great statue of 'Physical Energy', which had occupied him so long, and in which he ever found something new to express as he dreamed of the days to come and the future conquests of mankind. In 1904 his strength gradually failed him, and on July 1 he died in his Surrey home. Like his great exemplar Titian, whom he resembled in outward appearance and in much of the quality of his painting, he outlived his own generation and was yet learning, as one of the young, when death took him in the 88th year of his life.
JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON
1827-71
| 1827. | Born in London, April 1. |
| 1838-45. | At school at Eton. |
| 1841. | Selwyn goes out to New Zealand as Bishop. |
| 1845-9. | Undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford. |
| 1850-1. | Visits Germany. |
| 1852-3. | Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. |
| 1853. | Curate at Alphington, near Ottery. |
| 1854. | Accepted by Bishop Selwyn for mission work. |
| 1855. | Sails for New Zealand, March. Head-quarters at Auckland. |
| 1856. | First cruise to Melanesia. |
| 1860. | First prolonged stay (3 months) in Mota. |
| 1861. | Consecrated first Bishop of Melanesia, February. |
| 1864. | Visit to Australia to win support for Mission (repeated 1855). Serious attack on his party by natives of Sta. Cruz. |
| 1867. | Removal of head-quarters to Norfolk Island. |
| 1868. | Selwyn goes home to become Bishop of Lichfield. |
| 1869. | Exploitation of native labour becomes acute. |
| 1870. | Severe illness: convalescence at Auckland. |
| 1871. | Last stay at Mota. Cruise to Sta. Cruz. Death at Nukapu, September 20. |
JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON
Missionary
New Zealand, discovered by Captain Cook in 1769, lay derelict for half a century, and like others of our Colonies it came very near to passing under the rule of France. From this it was saved in 1840 by the foresight and energy of Gibbon Wakefield, who forced the hand of our reluctant Government; and its steady progress was secured by the sagacity of Sir George Grey, one of our greatest empire-builders in Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Thanks to them and to others, there has arisen in the Southern Pacific a state which, more than any other, seems to resemble the mother country with its sea-girt islands, its temperate climate, its mountains and its plains. A population almost entirely British, living in these conditions, might be expected to repeat the history of their ancestors. In politics and social questions its sons show the same independence of spirit and even greater enterprise.