The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 11 (1882), pp. 312-313
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers was a friend and colleague of Rolleston's, and President of the Anthropological Institute. At the meeting of the Institute on June 28th 1881 he made the following address:
I think we ought not to commenc the proceedings of this evening without some allusion to the great loss which this Society has sustained since our last meeting by the death of Professor Rolleston.
Anthropology, as most of the members are aware, was his chief study during the latter years of his life. His communication to this Society were frequent, and always valuable, and he often regretted that he had not more time to devote to it.
Amongst the more important papers which he read before the Institute and which have been published in our Journal during the last year or two, are the following: "On the Men of the Long Barrow Period," "On Excavations at Sigwell," and "On Human Remains at Cissbury," besides the part which he frequently took in our discussions, record of which has been published in our Journal, not to mention the assistance which he freely rendered to brother anthropologists whenever it was asked. To him we are indebted for the only scientific description which exists of crania of the stone age in this country, those of Cissbury and of the Long Barrows. Although his early training made physical anthropology his chief study, Professor Rolleston was an anthropologist all round; in archaeology and ethnology he took a deep interest and an active part. Archaeologists were in the habit of submitting to him for identification animal remains found in excavations, where the date or place in sequence could be fixed, and from these he was gradually accumulating a store of information about the changes and distribution of breeds in pre-historic times, which, had he lived, would have led to important results.
But apart from the great services which he rendered to science, and anthropology in particular, those who knew him will remember him chiefly for his fine chivalrous character, his ready wit, his earnest love of truth, and his straightforward method of dealing with the affairs of life. Nor was there ever a man more ready at all times to do justice to others. A proper notice of him will doubtless appear in our Journal, but, in the meantime, I think I may safely say that in no Society has he left behind him a larger number of friends than in the Anthropological Institute.
Transcribed by AP October 2012
