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Sir William Corry, Bt

BY the death on 9th June last, in his 68th year, of Sir William Corry, Bt., one of the Directors of the Cunard Line and the Dominion and Commonwealth Line, the Institution lost a friend who for many years had given it the help and advice of a very wide experience of shipping. Sir William Corry was a member of the Committee of Manage- ment for nearly 30 years, from 1896 to 1924. In 1912, when the Institution was beginning its efforts to induce shipowners and shipping companies to give a larger measure of support to the Life-boat Service, Sir William Corry took up the idea of trying to get owners to contribute a modest sum (£1) per ship per annum, and he at once gave the example by obtaining from the Common- wealth and Dominion Line, of which he was a Director, a regular contribution on this basis. The Institution also largely owed to him a donation of £1,000 re- ceived in 1922, towards its appeal for £600,000 for the building of Motor Life- boats from the Cunard Steamship Com- pany, of which Sir William Corry was also a Director, and its allied lines.

Although the example of contributing £1 per ship has not, as yet, been generally followed, a considerable number of companies have since adopted this prin- ciple, which had, indeed, long before been exemplified by Sir John (now Lord) Maclay, the head of the Glasgow Com- pany of Maclay and Mclntyre.

When, in 1922, the Institution made a special appeal to all the big shipping and trawling companies to give it much more generous support, it was accom- panied by a personal request from Sir William Corry and another prominent shipowner, Sir August Cayzer, who was also a member of the Committee of Management, that the appeal should be considered at the earliest opportunity.

In this and other ways, Sir William Corry gave the Institution his very ready help. His business was on the sea ; one of his recreations was yacht- ing ; and as a member of the Committee not only of the Institution, but of the Royal Merchant Seamen's Orphanage, King George's Fund for Sailors and the training ship Worcester, he gave much of his time and help to the great charities of the sea..