21 NOVEMBER 1931, Page 56

Reginald Kennedy-Cox : An Autobiography (Hodder and Stoughton, 10s. 6d.)

is the story of a man who came to London at the age of twenty-one With the motto : "h propose to write," dallied for -a time with the stage, and eventually was inspired to take up mission work by a scene in the Law Courts. Apart from the interlude of the Great War, the rest of the history of his life is the history of the Dockland Settlements in Canning Town, Rotherhithe, Millwail, Southampton and Bristol. A more detailed-tribute to his efforts will probably be written by someone else. Sir Reginald has in the main preferred to concentrate on the lighter side of life. What he has written is colourful and intensely readable ; a book that by its very unpretentiousness challenges attention.

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