Calendar: 1957-1958 Page 465

iv ANNUAL REPORT Visit of the Royal Life Governor On the last day of the Michaelmas Term 1955 the Duke of Edinburgh paid private visit to the College As Royal Life Governor he was received in the Entrance Hall by the Dean of King College and after meeting various members of tbe Governing Bodies and of the College was conducted over the building by the Principal The tour which occupied an hour was comprehensive if brief The Duke visited laboratories and lecture-rooms and libraries of all the six Faculties He made point of talking to many individual students who were at work they found his questions both friendly and searching Before the end of the visit the President and Officers of the Union Society were presented to His Royal Highness in the Great Hall which was being decorated in preparation for the End of Term Ball After talking with them for some ten minutes the Duke was given an enthusi- astic send-off as his car left the Quadrangle at the conclusion of visit which the College felt greatly honoured to have received Staff The College began the new session with sense of impending irre- parable loss in the knowledge that Canon Abbott had accepted appoint- ment as Warden of Keble College Oxford During the term many tributes were paid to the retiring Dean by staff and students of the entire College the gratitude and affection of his colleagues and past and present students was expressed in the form of gifts for the Dean new home At the meeting of the Council on Thursday November 10th 1955 the Chairman read an appreciation which was warmly endorsed by all present The following is the text of the Resolution of the Council in which its thanks and indebtedness to him are formally expressed On the occasion of his resignation the Council would wish to record with particular feeling its gratitude and admiration for the work which Canon Eric Abbott has achieved in his tenure of the office of Dean of King's College London from 1945 to 1955 Already known to the Council and to the College as former Chaplain he returned as Dean at time when the Second W'orld War scarcely concluded had left legacy of trouble and un- certainty which only the highest statesmanship could surmount This high quality the Dean possessed In the ten years since his election he has strengthened and maintained the reputation of the Theological Faculty the principal centre in the Church of England for the training of ordinands More than this it was he who first conceived the idea of Warminster as fourth year course preparatory to ordination and he who later showed that immense faith perseverance courage and ability which made possible the realization and success of this project now acclaimed throughout the Church of England