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On the amazing trail of Sir John
AN EXPERT on antique coins and descendant of John Dickinson has been honoured in the centenary year of his death.
Archivists at The Apsley Paper Trail, the site of Mr Dickinson's mills and the heart of the papermaking industry's history, have acquired a commemorative medal of Sir John Evans.
The distinguished numismatist was the nephew and son-in-law of John Dickinson, who joined the company in 1840 and then managed the firm until his retirement.
Sir John's name was cemented in history when his interest in geology helped him provide some of the first crucial evidence in support of Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
His eldest son, Sir Arthur, was a renowned excavator who discovered the Palace of King Minos in Crete, and Lewis, his second son, went on to manage John Dickinson and Co.
One of Sir John's daughters, Joan, wrote The Endless Web, a history
of John Dickinson's.
He lived for more than 50 years at Nash Mills House, in the grounds of the former paper mill, before building a new house at Berkhamsted.
The home, Britwell, is now the centrepiece of the Castle Village retirement complex on Britwell Drive.
Sir John's busy lifestyle did not detract from his interest in local affairs, being in turn a churchwarden of Leverstock Green Church and later of Apsley's St Mary's Church.
As chairman of the governors of Berkhamsted School, he helped headmaster Dr Fry through the years of the school's period of great expansion.
The Paper Trail's Michael Stanyon, who recently contributed to a book about John Evans' role in the paper industry and the local community, described him as a 'remarkable man'.
He added: "It is not generally realised that he was one of the first chairman of Hertfordshire County Council and sat for many years as chairman of the Quarter Sessions.
"At a time when diseases were rife and generally caused by bad sanitation, he advised on the drainage for Hemel Hempstead and fought to prevent the extraction of water from the chalk to prevent damage to
our local rivers."
THIS commemorative medallion of John Evans, pictured later to become Sir John Evans, is on display for visitors to Apsley's paper
heritage site.
In addition to Sir John's contribution to the paper industry and the local community, he was especially distinguished as an antiquary and numismatist, a collector of ancient objects and coins.
He was president of the Numismatic Society of London, now the Royal Numismatic Society, between 1885 to 1892, and was also a published author.
His books, standard in their respective departments, were The Coins of the Ancient Britons (1864), The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain (1872), and The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland (1881).
It was to mark his long and distinguished service to the Society that the commemorative medallion was created.
It is available to view at The Paper Trail's Visitor Centre at Frogmore Paper Mill in Apsley.
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Weather for Hemel Hempstead
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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