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ftfje late JWr. f .$, i®tlian* AN APPRECIATION By H. NOEL JERMAN With the death on 11 April, 1957, of John Bancroft Willans of Dolforgan, Kerry, the Powys-land Club lost one of its oldest and staunchest members. He was a country gentleman of cultured tastes, high ideals, deep faith and outstand- ing generosity. His deepest pleasures lay in service to others, whether by his constant acts of unobtrusive philanthropy, or by his willing and devoted service on a variety of public bodies. Chief perhaps among his cultural avocations was an interest in the antiquarian and historical fields, and it was this which led to his close association with the Club, extending over more than half a century. Mr. Willans was born on 27 May, 1881, and was educated partly at Hailey- bury, and partly by private tutors, among whom was Sir Leonard Woolley. He came to Dolforgan as a boy of thirteen, when his father (who was a distinguished engineer and had been engaged in the construction of the over-head railway at Liverpool Docks) purchased the estate. Although his parents' families had been connected with Yorkshire and Lancashire, Mr. Willans soon formed a deep at- tachment to Montgomeryshire, and to Kerry in particular, which remained with him throughout his life, perhaps even intensifying as the years passed. As a young man he was not robust, and as a result, when he served in the 1914-18 War, it was in the non-combatant services. He began to take an interest in the public life of the County at a comparatively early age. One of the earliest public functions in which he took part was the laying of the foundation stone of the Boys' County School in Newtown, of which he was later to become a Governor. He was High Sheriff of Montgomery- shire in 1917, and was made a Justice of the Peace of 1919. His association with the County Council began early in the century and he was an alderman from 1904 to 1907, and again from 1910 to 1919. He was still the representative of Kerry on the Council at the time of his death. He was Chair- man of the County Records Committee, and represented the County Council on the Court of Governors of the University Colleges of North and of South Wales, at Bangor and Cardiff. His interest in educational and cultural matters led to his being a member also of the Council of the University College of Wales at Aber- ystwyth, of the Council of the National Library of Wales, and of the Court of Governors of the National Museum of Wales.