Transcript

of

Richard Nicholls Worth [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. XXVIII, (1896), pp. 52-57.

by

Rev. W. Harpley

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1896 Ashburton meeting. Richard Nicholls Worth (19 July 1837 - 3 July 1896); geologist and historian of the City of Plymouth. Worth was the eldest son of Richard Worth, a builder of Devonport, by his wife Eliza, daughter of Richard Nicholls also of Devonport. He married, 22 March 1860, at Stoke Damerel, Lydia Amelia, daughter of Richard Davies of the Dockyard, Devonport. His son Richard Hansford Worth followed in his father's footsteps becoming a renowned author on Dartmoor. Worth devoted his spare time to investigating the history and geology of the west of England. Patient and exact, dreading hasty theorising, he did much for the history, archaeology, and geology of Devon and Cornwall. He was twice president of the Plymouth Association, and in 1891 of the Devonshire Association. A portrait in oils, painted by Lane in 1873, is in possession of his family. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Richard Nicholls Worth (1) was born at Devonport on the nineteenth day of July, 1837. He was the eldest of a family of three boys, and the only survivor to manhood.

At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to Mr. R. S. Smith, the proprietor of the Devonport and Plymouth Telegraph. Mr. Smith had then recently purchased the paper, and this was his first apprentice.

From the expiration of his articles in 1858, until the year 1863, he remained on the staff of the Telegraph; in the latter year he joined the Western Morning News; again changing in 1865, when he left for Newcastle, to edit the Northern Daily Express.

The climate of Newcastle proving unsuited to his health, he resigned the editorship of the Northern Daily Express in 1867, and re-joined the Western Morning News, from the staff of which paper he retired in 1877 ; and from that date to his death he was with Messrs. Brendon & Son, printers and publishers, of Plymouth.

Although apprenticed to Mr. Smith with intention to qualify as a journalist, he went through the whole routine of an old-fashioned newspaper office; in which it was assumed that no man could be a competent reporter, much less editor, who was not also a competent printer. In after life he was frequently heard to express his approval of this form of education, although he by no means suggested it to be necessary, or even advisable, in all cases.

His literary education was, to a great extent, self-acquired; its quality may, however, be judged from the fact that in May, 1861, he took the first prizes in Great Britain, in English History and Literature, at the Society of Arts examination.

Some idea of the thoroughness of his methods is to be gathered from the fact that, for this examination, independently of mastering all commentaries he could obtain, he memorized two plays of Shakespeare, and a portion of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, becoming word-perfect in each.

In the course of his career as a journalist, he was contributor to many papers, retaining his connection with some to the last. In the main his contributions were, as is usual, anonymous; but the authorship of the articles entitled, "Life in the Two Counties," and a kindred series, in the Western Morning News; "Popular Papers on Devon and Cornwall," in the Western Daily Mercury; and the Graphic special number devoted to Plymouth, has always been an open secret.

For many years he was the Western correspondent to a well-known mining paper, and on all subjects connected with mines and mining he was a recognised authority.

He was a contributor to Nature, Meliora, Academy, Graphic, and other magazines or weekly papers; in addition to which he was also, in early life, associated with two short-lived local ventures; editing, in 1868-9, The Devon and Cornwall Temperance Journal and Permissive Bill Advocate, and, in 1869, The Western Chronicle of Current Events. But, although well known as a journalist and as the contributor of current notes to several newspapers, it is on his published historical works, and his contributions to the Transactions of local antiquarian and scientific societies, that his reputation is mainly based.

His first essays at historical or scientific work appear to have been certain papers which he contributed to the proceedings of the Morice Town Mutual Improvement Society. These papers, which have never been published, give a clear insight into his methods and intentions in approaching the work, which was afterwards to assume such a great part in his life. It would appear, from their perusal, that at this time (1860 approximately) he was deliberately formulating the scheme of his future work, and putting in order the tools, if one may so write, requisite for its accomplishment.

His earlier papers deal rather with principles and methods, and not with independent research.

His first appearance as contributor to the proceedings of a learned society was in 1869, with a paper on the "Green Book of St. Columb Parish," published in the Transactions of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. From this date his original research into matters historical and scientific rapidly bore fruit, and papers shortly appear under his name in the Transactions of all local literary and scientific societies.

In 1871 he became corresponding member of the Eoyal Institution of Cornwall; honorary member of the Plymouth Institution in 1872; member of the Council of the Devonshire Association in 1872 (2); Curator of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1874; Fellow of the Geological Society in 1875.

He also acted as one of the local officers on the occasion of the visit of the British Association to Plymouth, and, in conjunction with the late Mr. Champernowne, arranged the Devonshire programme of the Geological Association.

In the midst of a busy, business life he found time, between the years 1869 and the present, to contribute over one hundred and forty papers to the Transactions of the following societies: - Devonshire Association, Plymouth Institution, Royal Institution of Cornwall, Penzance Natural History Society, Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, Royal Cornwall Polytechnic, British Archaeological, and Geological Association. His published works, issued within the same period, included a History of Devonport; History of Plymouth, three editions; Three Towns' Bibiotheca. History of Devonshire; West Country Garland; Calendar of Plymouth Municipal Records; contribution to Historical MSS. Commission, ninth report; Tavistock Records, Buller Papers, for private circulation; and a number of topographical works. Of these he considered that the History of Devonshire, and the last edition of the History of Plymouth, contained his best work.

The extent of this work is in itself surprising, and it must be borne in mind that practically the whole of it was the result of original research, his established principle being that no quotation should ever be accepted where the original was possible of access; and no scientific work should be founded on communicated information where original investigation was possible.

Mr. Worth's work was principally limited to the fields of History and Geology, and further restricted to the counties of Devon and Cornwall. Essentially a West-countryman, he chose, from all the world, England; from all England, the Western Counties; and from those counties, Dartmoor.

The descendant of an old Moorland family, the Walkhampton branch of the Worths, it may be that family associations, or it may be, as he sometimes half-jestingly suggested, that heredity influenced him; but it is no exaggeration to say that his love for Dartmoor extended to its very soil. In consequence, much of his best antiquarian and geological effort was expended on the elucidation of problems, or the collection of information relative to the Moor.

After Dartmoor, old Plymouth, and old Plymouth worthies, claimed place in his affections; and his well-known interest in all questions connected with the past of his adopted town, led to his being nearly as well known among a certain section of New Englanders as in his own county.

It is impossible to refer at length to Mr. Worth's contributions to the proceedings of this Association, which number over sixty, exclusive of Committee reports.

Of his methods, however, a few words may well be written. History he regarded essentially from its social side, and held that no effort of research was wasted, which unearthed from the local municipal and family records, where in chief such may be found, any suggestion or information leading to a clearer view of the past of social life in this county.

He held that the great facts of National and International History can only be properly appreciated when a knowledge of their direct effect on the life of the people can be gained.

National events properly form a background to the picture of any age, and to appreciate the value of their mass, and the importance they attain, we must, he held, regard them across their appropriate foreground. To-day our own experience shows that many a national event is of less direct importance to ourselves than a local insignificance: our foreground modifies, and even obscures the more distant features.

So, Mr. Worth contended, it has always been, and to appreciate history our foreground must be supplied from historical sources; and must not be obtained from individual imagination, modifiying present conditions.

Patience in detail was a strong and abiding characteristic of Mr. Worth's work, and perhaps his position in this respect is best left to the words of one of his own earlier papers, in which he says:

"The impress of man's social nature is stamped upon all his surroundings. You cannot trace the fortunes of a single family, you cannot record the history of a single ancient manor house, without somehow or another bringing in the history of the nation likewise.

"I have ventured especially to plead for the waifs and strays of history.

"Nothing can really be unimportant or uninteresting to us that was ever important or interesting to our race, and I think, in these days of rightful devotion to science, there is danger that, in contemplating the great world of Nature, we may be regardless of the little world of humanity."

And in this faith he worked to the last.

The same patience of detail he extended to his geological research; and in all work he abstained alike from promulgating working hypotheses, or expressing decided opinions, until it appeared to him that the last available evidence was before him.

Mr. Worth took a prominent part in the affairs of the locality in which he lived, and threw into public life the same energy that he displayed in scientific work.

Kindly by nature, he was intolerant of nothing save injustice; but in public and private life alike the semblance even of an unjust suggestion found in him an unrelenting opponent He could be absolutely inflexible, and never permitted any desire to please, or to avoid adverse criticism, to influence his actions.

But it is not only as a scientist and a public man that he was valued; his personal friends were many, and his genial manners and frank cordiality brought constant accessions to their numbers.

In manner he was bright and cheerful, with an almost boyish capacity for enjoyment, ready of speech, and gifted with a keen sense of humour.

His philosophy was unqualified optimism, and his desires peaceful, except when, as he himself put it, he found it necessary to make war to preserve the peace.

He gave ungrudgingly of his stores of information to all enquirers, and was always well pleased when able to supply any missing clue, or complete any halting statement.

In person he was tall, and of powerful frame. His six feet of height, robust form, and cheerful face, together with his unfailing energy, seemed to give some indication of great vitality. Few knew, and fewer suspected, that his reserve of strength was at all times slight.

A sudden indisposition some weeks before his death gave little serious concern, either to himself or to his friends; and, indeed, recovering somewhat, he immediately resumed his public duties, presiding at a poll of ratepayers in the District of Compton Gifford, of the Council of which he was, and had for years been, Chairman.

Fluctuations in his strength, however, slowly and almost imperceptibly reduced him, until he was advised to try the moorland air, and to take comparative rest. A somewhat serious attack caused him to return to Plymouth from Princetown, where he first stayed; but, rallying from this, he next went to Shaugh Prior.

Here, in a district with every feature of which he was familiar, and among his favourite haunts, he seemed at first to gain strength; indeed, he had every hope of attending the last meeting of this Association.

A relapse and renewed weakness, terminating in a fatal attack of syncope, caused his sudden and unexpected death on the third of July of this year.

True to his wish that he might die in harness, he had risen on the morning of his death, and had not long put down his work to prepare for a drive to Plymouth - had, indeed, risen to walk to the conveyance - when death seized him.

Buried in the quiet churchyard of the little village of Shaugh, he lies, as he would have wished to lie, under the shadow of the hills he loved so well.

References

(1)    Kindly contributed by Mr. R. Hansford Worth.

(2)    In appreciation of his great merits, Mr. Worth was elected President of the Association in 1891. - Ed.