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© Copyright 1929

C. MYLES MATHEWS

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C. MYLES MATHEWS

C. Myles Mathews was the son of C. E. Mathews of Birmingham, the famous mountaineer and President of the Alpine Club. H e died after a severe but short illness on November 24, 1928,

Myles Mathews was born on August 16, 1878, and was elducated first at Edgbaston Preparatory School, and subse-quently at Uppingham. At Uppingham he was captain of his house (Highfield), and a praepostor. In 1898 he went up, an Elxhibitioner, to King's College, Cambridge. H e took a First Class in Part I of the Natural Science Tripos, and a Second Class in Part II, his position in the latter being affected by the amount of time given in his final year to swimming and to rowing in his college boat. H e was Captain of the University Swimming Club for two years, and a half blue.

On leaving the University he became articled to his father's firm, Mathews, James & Crossking, Solicitors, of Birmingham. H e took his Law Final in 1904, taking second place in the First Class, and was Clifford's Inn prizeman and a Gold Medallist of the Birmingham Law Society.

After taking his Law Final he came to London and worked with the firm of Sharp, Parker & Company. Later he became a partner of his uncle's firm, F. C. Mathews & Company, and, after the death of his uncle, he was entirely responsible for this business.

In his professional work he was famous for the literary merit of his briefs for counsel. These gave such clear views on the points at issue as to make the work of counsel relatively light, as well as making the task of reading them a pleasant one.

His professional work was mostly connected with the com-mercial problems of the City, and during the course of his career he had the conduct of many cases which have since become land-marks of judicial interpretation. The frequency with which the name of his firm appears in the law reports shows how much his services were sought. Probably the finest piece of work of

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his professional life was the conduct of an arbitration between the British Government and the President of the Republic of Costa Rica before Chief Justice Taft of the United States of America as sole arbitrator. The questions at issue were of the utmost intricacy, involving research into abstruse matters of commercial and international law, and the printed Case which he submitted to the distinguished arbitrator on behalf of the British Government is a masterpiece of learning, lucidity, and style. Many American Law Libraries applied for copies. Mention might also be made of a case in the House of Lords in which judgment on an important point of company law was given in favour of his client, although his opponents' case was argued by the Attorney-General and Sohcitor-General of that day, and the peculiar interest of it is that Mathews's view prevailed although one eminent K.C. had previously given the opinion that it could not succeed.

As a boy C. M. M. spent nearly all his holidays at his father's cottage, Caer Saer, near Machynlleth, and this early associatio'n with the scenery and hills of Wales he always delighted to renew.

His first signature in the visitor's book at Pen-y-gwryd appears to have been in 1900, but there can be little doubt that he must have been there before that time with his father.

He first visited the Alps at the age of thirteen, when he accompanied his father to. the summit of Mont Blanc. This was in 1892, and at that time it seems to have been a record for a boy of that age to. make the ascent successfully. H e climbed Mont Blanc three times between the ages of thirteen and twenty-o.ne.

He became a member of the Alpine Club in October, 1899, and his qualifications for membership included amongst other expeditio.ns the following: Mont Blanc, Col d'Argentiere, Wellenkuppe, Monte Rosa, Col du Chardonnet, Aiguille du Tour, Wetterhorn, Obergabelhorn, Triftjoch, Rothhorn, Col du Geant, Charmoz, Aiguille and Dome du Gouter. The list of his proposers and supporters is interesting, viz., Alfred Wells and Leslie Stephen as proposers, and C. E. Mathews, Horace Walker, C. T. Dent, T. G. Bonny, E. Whymper, C. Pilkington, and Martin Conway as supporters.

He was an original member of the Climbers' Club and served on the Committee from 1906 to 1909, and again when he resigned the Presidency. He became Secretary of this Club in 1908, an office which he filled with devotion and energy until he was made President in 1925. He was President from 1925 to 1928.

CLIMBERS' CLUB JOURNAL 67

During his period of office as Secretary, the Climbers' Club increased its membership and its activities despite the difficulties during the War period, and during his presidency the member-ship grew larger than it had ever been before.

He frequently represented the Climbers' Club at the meet-ings and annual dinneirs of kindred clubs, and his great gift of oratory made him a very welcome guest on such occasions. There were times when C. M. M. seemed to surpass even his father as an after-dinner speaker. Perhaps the most notable of these was the occasion of his last speech from the Presidential Chair of the Climbers' Club dinner during the winter of 1927-8, when he and G. Winthrop Young vied with each other in extempore rhymes which are given below. Mathews's lines were as follows :

A LETTER OF ADVICE.

From a Member af the Climber.i' Club in the Country to the Committee in London.

You tell me you're promised a climber. My careful Committee next week.

I hope you'll make even sublimer The Qualifications you seek.

Alas, if he seems hke a; Rambler, A Rocker and Feller, or, oh,

Not a walker but rather an ambler, My own Geoffrey Winthrop say "No!"

If he looses the stones from his stances, If he tangles his feet in the rope,

If on Girdles or Garters he dances, If he boggles on Faith or on Hope,

If he snores in his bunk in the Cottage, If his pace is too fast or too slow,

If he's aged and nearing his dotage. My ovm Geoffrey Winthrop say "No!"

If in Cornwall he dives in the ocean, From a Traverse that Andrews once did.

If he says that he hasn't a notion, Where on earth the Club library's hid.

If he comes off his pitch on your luncheon. If he wants a fresh foothold, and so

Seeks your head his tricunis to scruncli on. My own Geoffrey Winthrop say "No!"

E S

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If his climbs are described in the pap>ers, If his' photograph peers from the press.

If he cuts on the Slab any capers. If his route finding's often a guess.

If he thinks the Black Cleft is too easy. If he says that the Kitchen vyill go.

If he's fresh when his leader is wheezy. M y ovyn Geoffrey Winthrop say " N o ! "

If his sub isn't j)aid till November, If he knows a new way to C w m Glas,

H e need not become a new member. Don't let such a candidate pass.

Take him on to the hillside that mellows. Try him out ujjon rock and on snow.

If he ism't the best of good fellows. M y own Geoffrey Winthrop say " N o ! "

G. Winthrop Young's reply was as follows :

MYLES-tones!

W h o dates from the Pre-luvian Pre-hensiles Of P.Y.G.?

Hereditary Myles!

Who is it whom Bulch Trufan still beguiles To shun that summit?

Pen-Y-Gwryd Myles!

Who lived the double life, twixt Fells and Files, unprosecuted, prosperous?

W h y , Myles!

Who was it whom no Office riled, or riles? (If not)

Indomitable Myles!

Who turned succeeding Presidential styles To the Club's profit?

Secretarial Myles!

Who drove the Bullet-in, as weight drives Piles?

But Editorial Myles!

Who knew the time for threatening, or for wiles. In the Club crises?

Perspicacious Myles!

CLIMBERS' CLUB JOURNAL 69 \

W h o changed light-hearted Senioa's in these Isles To Banker's Order Members?

If not Myles!

Who views in turn with understanding smiles. The High, Stern Present?

Presidential Myles!

Who loved the bull's broad jest, the crocodile's Poetic tears?

Like Oratorical Myles!

What still can wreck the rafters, crash the tiles Like

The lone laugh of Myles!

Let the Club dhange, if it but tried at whiles These imminent mile-stones

These tones of Myles!

Oh, Rose of Da\vn! the bright hue that exiles Our Matt-hues, lead our cheer

For miles and miles and Myles.

After his marriage in 1905 his visits to the Alps were not very frequent and the W a r stopped them, but he did make one or two visits after the Wa r . H e has climbed nearly all the well-known routes in the Welsh hills and had a very intimate know-ledge of these and of some of the more difficult newer routes. H e was a very regular visitor to the North Wales climbing disfrict, and we find a record of at least a dozen visits to. Pen-y-gwryd. In more recent years he devoted a number of Easters to climbs on the Cornish cliffs.

C. M . M . was a frequent contributor to the journal of the Climbers' Club, and his reviews of Alpine literature were wonder-fully vivid, and often humorous, and never failed to mark the salient features of the work reviewed, nor its style. H e edited No. 1 of Volume II, N ew Series, of the Climbers' Club Journal, and he usually wrote most of the Climbers' Club Bulletins. In The Mountains of Snowdonia at the end of the chapter on the History of Pen-y-gwryd there is an excellent supplementary note written by him on his father's reminiscences.

A s a critic of general literature he excelled, and his own writing had great literaxy style. In 1902 and 1903 he was a frequent contributor to the monthly budget known as The Trawl. H e wrote in collaboration with his cousin, Wilfred Mathews, a Morality Play called Everyman whidh was performed in

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Liverpool University in 1902. This was followed by a further play called The Registers. H e was Organising Secretary of the third International Art Congress in 1908, and edited various publications in connexion with this. Between 1911 and 1914 he produced two. papers, one on Rhythm and one on Parody.

He was a great reader of poetry, and his memory for the poets was out of the ordinary.

Coupled with his interest in literature was a great Uking for acting and the theatre generally. W e find him acting at school and later on at Cambridge.

Subsequently 'he became interested in the productions of Vedrenne and Barker. H e formed an intimate friendship with Vedrenne to whom he addressed a poem.

He was a talented musician with a fine voice and took part in glee-singing at King's, Cambridge. H e also sang three times in the Matthew Passion at Ely under Sir Hugh Allen. He greatly enjoyed opera, and twice sat through The Ring at Munich. He liked especially to listen to The Valkyrie when-ever he could afford to pay for a comfortable seat. Although an admirer of Wagner he preferred the work of Mozart, especially Figaro and Don Giovanni. H e greatly admired Bach and listened with pleasure many times to. the Great Mass in B minor.

A characteristic of C. M. M. was his real appreciation of the good things of life. H e had an inimitable palate and a correct taste for wine. As an instance of this we find this quality well hidden in the following lines prepared for one of the numerous mountaineering club dinners that he attended.

Dear Climber, you know what my wish is, I hate all your civilised fuss. Hotel dinners with napkins and dishes. Were never intended for us. To sleep between sheets is so slothful. Hot baths are for Gadarine swine. And I think it is utterly loathful To change every time that you dine.

But a hut by the roadside, my Climber, I prithee get ready for me. My dreams in a bunk are subUmer Than those dream'd at Peny-y-G. My baggage reduced to a toothbrush, I climb, dine and sleep in one suit. And life in its earliest youth-flush Finds at Helyg its ultimate fruit.

WILBEHFORCB N. TRIBE

THOMAS MEIARBS

CLIMBERS' CLUB JOURNAL 71

He had a special talent for social intercourse, and abhorred loneliness. In an early poem contributed to Tlie Trawl this dread of being left alone was subtly expressed, and his early death at least satisfied his own desire not to be the last of his family to survive.

In the course of watching the education of his children he became absorbed in the principles and practice of education, and often made suggestions for improvements to the heads of his children's schools. It is recorded that although this was not at first appreciated, he always ended by winning their respect.

On the outbreak of War he immediately joined the Special Constabulary, S Division, Hampstead, and served two years as an Inspector and a further two years as Chief Inspector. He remained in the Reserve of Officers until his death.

H e married in 1905 Edith A. Meredith, and had two daughters and one son, all of whom survive him.

S. B. D.

W I L B E R F O R C E N E W T O N T R I B E

(1855--I928)

THOMAS MEARES

(1855-1929)

During the past year the Club has lost, in addition to its ex-President, two foundation members. W . N. Tribe and T. Meares, though they may never have met on the mountains, yet had much in common. Born in the same year and d3dng within a few months of each other, both were leaders of men in their cities, where, one for twenty years Chairman of the Bristol Stock Exchange, the other as Senior Partner in a well-known firm of Birmingham Solicitors, lioth won the respect and affection of all with whom they came in contact. Both were members of the Alpine Club and spent many holidays in the Alps, loving the high places, not merely as peaks and passes to. conquer, but as visions of beauty vouchsafed to the chosen few who love them well. Both, when the War came, surrendered their few hours of leisure, Meares to work night after night amidst the shells of a munition factory. Tribe to walk his beat with other "Specials"' along the Bristol streets.

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As a mountaineer, Tribe had the wider experience. Norway, where he was the first EngUshman up the Romsdalhorn, and his much loved EngUsh lakes were his hunting ground as well as the Alps. As to his quarries, his many pictures in Alpine Club Exhibitions testify to his skill with the camera. Artist and lover of th^ hills is written large in all of them; but one must read his "Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian" in the Fell and Rock Journal to realise how much the mountains meant to him.

Towards the end of his life the Lakes became more and more his chosen play-ground. Here, where in earlier days he had made many a difficult first ascent, he loved to wander with nephews and nieces, unfolding to them the mysteries of nature, the grandeur of the mountains and the first elements of mountain craft.

Meares was less of a cragsman. His cUmbing was mostly done in the Alps where, except for the War, he never missed a season from 1884 to 1923. Those who climbed with him recall his great competence and undaunted imperturbability. Stiff slopes of soft snow or crowdted hotels which added another several miles to the day's work, none of these things could impair his cheerfulness. H e made an ideal companion.

Of later years, when the strain of an Alpine season became too much for him and well-earned leisure gave him time for longer journeys, he visited India and South America, where his diary shows him enjoying from afar the great peaks of Andes and Himalaya.

Tribe and Meares were both men of high ideals. No more fitting epitaph could be found for them than the motto on Tribe's own book-plate, a motto alike for business man and mountaineer, Altiora peto.

R E V I E W S

Climbs and Ski Runs. F. S. Smythe. W . Blackwood & Sons. Price, 21.9. net. 307 pages and 74 full-page illustrations.

Half the chapters in this book have been printed before in various magazines and journals. A foreword has been written by Geoffrey Winthrop Young, a foreword packed with surprises. For here we learn that a phrase remarkably like that employed by the worthy herbaUst, Thomas Johnson, in his accoimt of his ascent of Snowdon in 1639, is to be attributed to Ben Jonson himself—a singular coincidence. Far more serious are the gloomy forebodings ot thei distinguished writer. Mountaineering,