Edinburgh as well as the Gunning Victoria Jubilee prize. He was fellow or member of the Danish, Dutch, Swedish, and Irish scientific academies. He was made hon. fellow of Peterhouse in 1885. Resigning his professorship early in 1901, Tait died at Edinburgh on 4 July 1901, and was buried there.
Sir George Reid painted three portraits of Tait: one is the property of the family; another, which has been engraved, hangs in the rooms of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the third is in the hall of his college, Peterhouse, Cambridge.
Two scholarships in scientific research were founded in Tait's memory at Edinburgh university, and a sum of money contributed to improve the apparatus in the natural philosophy department. A second ('Tait') chair in that department is also in process of foundation.
Of Tait's four sons the eldest, John Guthrie, is principal of the Government Central College at Mysore. The third son, Frederick Guthrie (1870-1900), born at Edinburgh on 11 Jan. 1870, after being educated at Edinburgh Academy and Sedbergh, entered Sandhurst as an Edinburgh University candidate. In 1890 he was gazetted to the Leinster regiment, and in 1894 was transferred to the Black Watch. In 1899 he volunteered for active service in South Africa. At Magersfontein (19 Dec. 1899) young Tait, 'in front of the front company,' was shot in the leg. After a few weeks in hospital he rejoined his company, and on the same day, 7 Feb. 1900, at Koodoosberg, leading a rush on the Boers' position, he was shot through the heart, and died instantly. Lieutenant Tait, known everywhere as 'Freddie Tait,' was from 1893 until he sailed for South Africa probably the most brilliant amateur golfer. He was champion golfer both in 1896 and in 1898 (Low's F. G. Tait, a Record, 1902, with characteristic portrait).
[Dr. Knott's Life and Scientific Work of P. G. Tait, Cambridge, 1911, with four portraits and bibliography enumerating some 365 papers, besides 22 vols.; family records and personal recollections.]
TALLACK, WILLIAM (1831–1908), prison reformer, born at St. Austell, Cornwall, on 15 June 1831, was son of Thomas Tallack (1801–65) by his wife Hannah (1800–76), daughter of Samuel Bowden, members of the Society of Friends. He was educated at the Friends' school, Sidcot (1842–5), and the Founders' College, Yorkshire (1852–4). He was engaged in teaching (1845–52 and 1855–8). An early friendship with the Quaker philanthropist Peter Bedford (1780–1864) determined his career. In 1863 he became secretary to the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, exchanging this in 1866 for the secretariate of the Howard Association, which he held till 31 Dec. 1901. In pursuit of his duties as an agent in the cause of penal reform he visited not only the Continent, but Egypt, Australia, Tasmania, Canada, and the United States. His advocacy of the same cause found expression in numerous tracts, addresses, flyleaves, and articles in periodicals. He wrote much in the 'Friends' Quarterly Examiner'; 'The Times' in an obituary notice speaks of him as 'at one time a frequent contributor,' and justly characterises his writing as 'discursive and somewhat confused,' but emphasising 'wholesome principles,' keeping 'a grip on facts,' and exhibiting 'courtesy and tact.' His 'Penological and Preventive Principles' (1888, 2nd edit. 1896) may be considered a standard work on the subject. His religious writings and correspondence present a liberal type of evangelical religion in conjunction with broad sympathies.
He died at 61 Clapton Common on 25 Sept. 1908, and was buried in the Friends' cemetery, Winchmore Hill, Middlesex. He married on 18 July 1867, at Stoke Newington, Augusta Mary (b. 28 Dec. 1844; d. 21 Jan. 1904), daughter of John Hallam Catlin, and had by her several children.
A nearly complete bibliography of his writings to 1882 (including magazine articles) will be found in ' Bibliotheca Comubiensis' (1874-82). The following may be specially noted: 1. 'Malta under the Phenicians, Knights and English,' 1861. 2. 'Friendly Sketches in America,' 1861 (noticed in John Paget's 'Paradoxes and Puzzles,' 1874, 405-7). 3. 'Peter Bedford, the Spitalfields Philanthropist,' 1865; 2nd edit. 1892. 4. 'A Common Sense Course for Diminishing the Evils of War,' 1867. 5. 'Thomas Shillitoe, the Quaker Missionary and Temperance Pioneer,' 1867. 6. 'George Fox, the Friends and the Early Baptists,' 1868. 7. 'Humanity and Humanitarianism. . . . Prison Systems,' 1871. 8. 'Defects of the Criminal System and Penal Legislation,' 1872 (circulated by the Howard Association). 9. 'Christ's Deity and Beneficent Reserve,' 1873. 10. 'India, its Peace and Progress,' 1877. 11. 'Howard Letters and Memories,' 1905 (autobiographical).
