JOY MARRIOTT MARSHALL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 221, 16 September 1903, Page 5

JOY MARRIOTT MARSHALL.

(By ''Cant. Coli.'O

f; Sq ; P<wr joy Marshall has gone. It is very hard: for anyone who knew him Avell to reali.se the end. He was physically and mentally one of the best* allround men I ever saw, and,, though-there, may have been some of his' acquaintances who did not appreciate or understand him. I never met anyone who did not respect, him. He was a quiet man, not given to hasty, speech, but with a wonderful, fund of vitality and energy ■behind his reserve, and nothing less than this could have pulled the immense amount of physical and intellec'tu.a,r work that he crowded into his life. He gained high academical honours here. He won Junior and Senior University Scholarships, took his B.A. degree in 1889, and his M.A.. the next year with a double class. ■ But all the time he was reading for his examinations, and playing an active part-hi college life he was doing enough athletics to satisfy three ordinary men. Though lie wa?i... powerfully . built and muscular, I should riot say he had, like his brothers, Dr. "Pat." and George Marshall, any exceptional.. qualifications for success as" ; a,n athlete., except his personal temperament. He was, above all things, persistent, cool - and resolute;/ and no man ever , "tried" harder at everything ho. undertook. As <a.-footballer he was.one of. the best centre three-quarters thai ever played in ithe colony—-a fine kick, a deadly tackle, afrif ' i,' ,, clever but unselfish scorer. I dbllbt if any team in New Zealand has ever given so fine an exposition of the "four three-quarter game" as the Canterbury College Fifteen of 1888 to 1900, when Marshall was at his beef. At lawn tennis he 'was twice champion of the colony; and here, again, he had no special personal adaptation to the game but his courage and strength. Without a back-hand stroke, and without vplley-'i ing -power, he beat the invincible Minden Fenwiek in 1890; and apain, by : sheer pluck and energy, in 1896" he won the championship from H. A. Parker the most brilliant player the colony has yet produced. At cricket Marshall suffered from lack of opportunity; but at .Wanganui, and wherever else he played, he was known as one of the .finest bats iv the colony. He was one of the few colonials who scored a century against Warner's team last season, and" he played cricket as he played every other game—with all his heart and soul, and with a persistent refusal to accept failure or defeat. But all this meant a ; constant, strain upon him. and, in spjte \ of Jiis. fine physique, his constitution was far fr.om sound.. In. 1889 he played into the final round of the Tennis Championships at Dunedin, and collapsed on the last day. He was seriously ill for many weeks, and I remember well how his first ;th(?ught when he .recovered was to apologia? to his partner for breatjbg down. But it would give a very false imuresaioti of the man to imply that his best energies were devoted to athletics. He. played hard, as he worked hard, because it was his nature to do things thoroughly, and his habit to persevere. Miet completing hjs University course Kere lie went ' 'Home to CtthtbVidge, and kept terms there. •VVhen he came back from Cambridge lie became rWn* nj&rtter at Christ's. College. Ghrirftchureh, and lik personal force of character and his devotion to duty, combined with Jus. prowess at. football and cricket, left a deep impression , upon all the boy,l;Wha came,.under .his. .charge. When ;he reinpved toWangujiuiftb teat'h and officiate as chaplain in his own old school,, he .took .up athletics again as enthusiastically as ever, and it was largely owing to his exertions that the Wanganui Collegiate School has attained its present pre - eminence on the football .field. -But everywhere be went he left the mark of a strong, resolute man, inspired by high ideals, and devoted to any and every form of duty that came rin-* his .way. " Another • severe illness a few weeks ago. compelled him to atop work for the time; and then came the final tragic mystery. I do not claim to ihave been one of Marshall's intimate friends', but I knew him in.many different, capacities, and i am glad to put on rei'ord my respect and admiration for a man who in' all the years. I knew him never did anything unworthy of the best traditions of British athletics and • British university life, nor anything inconsistent with the high and sauced . calling that, he had chosen. May. he ,re»t in peace, , ; . > * ■ *.*>■■* •■