OBITUARY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20334, 5 February 1936, Page 14

OBITUARY

SIR OWEN SEAMAN. Sir Owen Seaman, the famous humorist, and a former editor of “Punch,” whose death was announced on Monday, was born in 1861. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he took a first class in the classical tripos in 1883. For a time he was a schoolmaster, then professor of literature at the Durham College of Science, Newcastle. In 1897 he was called to the bar. In the meantime he had contributed to “Punch” a parody of Kipling’s “Rhyme of the Three Sealers”; and while still a schoolmaster he had published a volume of parodies which is regarded as a classic of its kind. Sir Owen joined the staff of “Punch” in 1897. Soon afterwards he was made assistant editor, and in 1906 he succeeded Sir F. C. Burnard as editor. Under the new editor the circulation of the magazine increased considerably. In the war years especially, the conduct of “Punch” by Sir Owen Seaman, and his spirited verses, were appreciated throughout the Empire. He retired in 1932. In some of his verses he is considered to have equalled, and even surpassed, C. S. Calverley, the brilliant Victorian parodist. Books by Sir Gwen Seaman include: “Horace at Cambridge,” “Tillers of the Sand,” “In Cap and Bells.” “War Time.” “Made in England," and “From the Home Front.” He was knighted in 1914. Among other distinctions conferred on him were the honorary degrees of LL.D. (Edinburgh) and D.Litt. (Durham). Reference to the recent death of Mr John King, an elder of Trinity Church and a former member of the Timaru Presbytery, was made by the Rev A. Begg at to-day's meeting of the Presbytery. It was agreed to send a letter of condolence to the widow and family, members standing in silence out of respect. Similar motions were also carried with the Rev W. F. Findlay, in the loss of his son, Dr W. F. Findlay of the Government Health Department, Wellington, the Rev A. Begg, in the loss of his mother, and with Mrs J. B. Bickerstaff, whose husband, the Rev J. B. Bickerstaff, was recently killed in a level crossing smash at Stirling.