1 DECEMBER 1928, Page 19

RICHARD HOLT IRJTTON

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

Sm,—The centenary of the Spectator has brought the name of Mr. R. H. Hutton, into considerable prominence recently. Mr. Hutton's brother and my father were friends. In 1881 I was for a short time a very juvenile assistant curate at Englefield Green, and one afternoon I heard a tremendous bang on the stairs of the 'Clergy House—a veritable thunderbolt.

I rushed out, and found that Mr. Hutton; who was terribly near-sighted, had fallen down half a flight of stairs. However, happily, he was in no way the worse for his fall, except that his spectacles were bent thereby. Mr. L Hutton was always Most kind to me. The Huttone were by long family tradition unitarians, but like so many ex-Unitarians, Mr. Hutton was an advanced Churchman, much on the lines of Mr. Gladstone.

Mr. Richard Holt Hutton was I think the most unassuming and humble-minded celebrity with whom I have been brought