provided by friends, for whose help I am very grateful, but mainly on personal knowledge and a large number of letters which Hovell wrote to the lady who is now his widow, and to myself. It would have been interesting to have published more of these letters, but we thought that brevity was the sounder policy. It would have been easy, too, for me to have let myself go more freely than I have ventured to do, but here again reticence seemed the best. As I pen these concluding lines I think not only of Hovell himself, but of the many ardent and gallant souls of which he was the type, and in particular of the many contemporaries, comrades, and pupils of his own, and the sadly increasing band of those younger members of the Manchester history school, who have gone on the same path and met the same fate. The next generation will be the poorer for their loss.
In conclusion, I must thank other willing helpers, notably Mr. J. L. Paton, High Master of Manchester Grammar School, Mr. William Elliott, History Lecturer in the Manchester Municipal Training College, Mr. Mercer, Head Master of the Moston Lane Municipal School, the Rev. T. E. McCormick, Vicar of St. Mary's, Ashton-on-Mersey, and Hovell's sister, Mrs. Gresty, for biographical information. Professor Unwin, my colleague, has been good enough to go carefully through the proofs, and has made many useful suggestions and corrections. Finally I must express my special thanks to Mrs. Mark Hovell for the help she has given me at every stage of our sad task. I should add also that the manuscript material left behind by Hovell, his note-books and "fiches," have been deposited by Mrs. Hovell in the Manchester University Library, where they will be available for future workers on the same field. The bibliography, originally drafted by Mr. West, has been amplified by myself in the light of Hovell's notes and of a rough bibliography found among his papers, and with special reference to what has been added to the work since it left Mr. West's hands. The index has been compiled by Mrs. Hovell. The photograph of the author is reproduced by kind permission of Mr. J. Lafayette, Deansgate, Manchester.
- Manchester, December 1917.
