H. E. Quick, 1882-1967

 

Hamilton Ernest Quick died at his home in Reading on 23 May 1967. He was born in Sydney, N.S.W., on 13 November 1882, the son of Charles and Florence Quick of Penzance, Cornwall. His father was assayer and works manager of the Anglo-French Nickel Company. Educated at Swansea Grammar School and the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, he took his B.Sc. degree in 1902 and then entered St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. He graduated M.B., B.S. (Lond.) in 1906, and three years later became F.R.C.S. (Eng.). After house appointments in London, Southampton and Swansea, he was appointed Honorary Ophthalmic Surgeon at Swansea General and Eye Hospital, a post he occupied for 39 years. On his retirement he was made Honorary Consulting Surgeon. He was also ophthalmic surgeon to the Swansea, Pembrokeshire and Breconshire Education authorities and was a medical referee to the Home Office. During the First World War Quick saw active service with the 3rd Welsh Field Ambulance. He took part in the landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, in 1915 and was mentioned in dispatches. Quick was married in 1918 to Adelaide Ruth Hellins, daughter of Mr and Mrs H. H. Hellins; Mrs Hellins was related to Sir Humphrey Davy. His wife died in 1946 and he is survived by two married daughters.

Quick was elected a Member of the Conchological Society in 1916, of which he was President 1941–42 and was elected an Honorary Member in 1955. He was also a Member of the Malacological Society of London, of which he was President 1950–53 and Editor 1951–56. He was a good all-round naturalist with a special knowledge of several groups, such as woodlice, grasshoppers and false-scorpions, but Mollusca were his chief love. While his knowledge of British non-marine gastropods was exhaustive, he made certain groups which require dissection for their determination – namely Succineidae, Vitrinidae and slugs – peculiarly his own: as an authority on the first of these he established a world-wide reputation, and the genus Quickella C. R. Boettger, 1939 (type-species: Succinea arenaria Bouchard-Chantereaux) was named in recognition of his researches. His paper on 'The anatomy of British Succineae' (1933) was so authoritative that the Recorder of non-marine Mollusca had to scrap earlier records of the British species and make a fresh start. His last major publication, 'British Slugs' (1960) may be regarded as his magnum opus and is indispensable to all students of this group. No one can ever write about British slugs without referring to the work of Quick.

Before failing health prevented him from making the journey to London, Quick was most regular in his attendance at the meetings of the Conchological Society, where his opinions, offered in his quiet, almost shy, manner, always received the respect due to them. On the occasion of the visit of delegates to the First European Malacological Congress to Juniper Hall Field Centre, Mickleham, on 20 September 1962, he received a royal welcome on his arrival, attired in a track—suit, at tea—time. The writer had the privilege of working with him on Mollusca courses at the Field Studies Council’s centres at Malham, Yorkshire and Juniper Hall, Surrey. I shared a room with him and got to know him well. The longer one knew 'Doc', as he was affectionately known at the centres, the more one's respect and affection grew. He always spoke quietly, yet there was authority in what he had to say. He was kind and gentle and possessed a quiet humour which was infectious. When we were at Malham he was over 70, yet the longest trek over rough country never daunted him. He was philosophical by nature and, during a very dry spell, did his best to produce slugs for the students with the aid of a watering can.

Undoubtedly his skill as an ophthalmic surgeon contributed to his mastery of dissection. To watch him dissect a minute snail was an education. His many anatomical papers were illustrated with his own neat drawings, and his illustrations of slugs in his Synopsis (1949) and Bulletin (1960) display artistic competence. This skill was employed on his Christmas cards, usually molluscan and humorous, though I have before me a delightful coloured picture of Testacella maugei received at Christmas 1962.

Quick was always generous with his time and knowledge. Juniper Hall and the Department of Zoology at Reading University, to which he gave of both unstintingly, will miss him greatly. To conchology and to the Conchological Society his loss is grievous. To those of us who knew him the happy memory of this kindly, lovable man will ever remain. An obituary and portrait appeared in the British Medical Journal, 17 June 1967 (No. 5554) p. 772.