Abstract
MR. WALTER BROCKETT, head assistant in the Zoological Laboratory, Cambridge, died on Nov. 11. He had been in the same employment for forty-eight years, at first as a boy under F. M. Balfour and later under Adam Sedgwick and the present writer. He was an expert at section cutting, at first single sections and then as an operator of the original ribbon machines, which by his criticisms he helped to perfect. A part of his business was to mark off students at lectures and practicals, and a rough calculation shows that more than 7000 names are recorded in his books; he seldom forgot the name of anyone therein, and he generally would recall their peculiarities and athletic distinctions. A photograph of the annual laboratory cricket match, ‘Assistants v. Staff,’ shows him as captain seated alongside Dr. Gaskell, who had Sir Michael Foster, Sir Francis Darwin, Dr. W. Bateson, Sir Morley Fletcher, Prof. Barclay Smith, Mr. Brindley, Mr. Warburton, and the writer in his team. He regarded Cambridge as his University, the Laboratory as his department, and its graduates as his students, and he was proud of them. He was noted in Cambridge for his successful management and training of laboratory assistants, most of whom migrated to other universities. His affectionate and loyal relations with professor and staff makes their sense of loss very deep and personal. He leaves a fine example of whole-hearted loyalty and devotion.
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G., J. [Obituaries]. Nature 122, 851 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/122851b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/122851b0