Mr. Stephen Michell, who passed away at Hayle on Christmas Eve, after a long illness, was a native of St. Day, in the parish of Gwennap, and a Cornish-man with unusual gifts. His business career was devoted to accountancy, and for many years he was the secretary of Hosken, Trevithick, Polkinghorne and Company ;  afterwards the secretary of an important boot manufacturing com-pany at Rushden, Northamptonshire; later still of a dairy company in the Wendron district, and a member of the clerical staff of the "Cornishman" Group of Newspapers.

The unusual fact, was that apart from his skill as an accountant, which also gained him posts as auditor of business arms, he was an amateur engineer, who in his youth and in conjunction with Mr. Letcher, of St. Day, won a prize at the Royal  Cornwall Polytechnic ;  and later in life he published a book on "Mine Drainage," twenty years afterwards bringing out an enlarged, up-to-date and well illustrated volume on this subject, which remains a standard work on the mission of the Cornish pumping engine and various types of portable engines. His grasp of the historical and technical features of mine  drainage  proved  that he might have made a success of en-gineering if he had concentrated on that vocation  from his early youth.   That  a lay man should have produced such a work  as  a hobby  is  a  unique  feat,  and it remains as a monument to his memory, even in these days when electricity has become a rival to the various types of pumps worked by steam or oil.   Mr. Michell,  as  a  lad,  was  familiar   with the  Cornish copper mines which made St. Day a centre of activity,  and must have   absorbed the mechanical points like a sponge while wandering about the mines.

A delicate lad,  who  had to husband his strength,  deceased yet lived to pass his  eightieth birthday,  and  in  the last few years was able to undertake a long railway journey to  the  Midlands.   In spare time,  even when confined to bed, he  wrote  an enlargement of  the article on Cornish foundries, which he had contributed to the Victorian History of England.   He  had  also  published lengthy  historical  notes  on Methodism in the Rushden district of Northamp-tonshire.   His travels abroad were mainly confined  to  a  stay  in    British Columbia, where he had relatives, many years ago.    He was closely identified with Wesleyan Methodism in the Hayle circuit.

Mr. Michell was one of the sons of the late Mr. Thomas Michell, of Scorrier Street, St. Day, and he was predeceased by  his  brothers   Tom and Theophilus and his sister  Mrs. Sidgmoor.   He married Annie, the eldest daughter of Captain and Mrs. Love, of 18, Cornwall Terrace,  Penzance.   His  children in-clude  Alice,  Mrs.  Alf. Watson,  of Rush-den,  Violet,  Mrs.  J. Reynolds, of Car-diff,  the  late  Mr.  Stephen  H.  Michell,  master  of   Cheltenham   College, the Rev. Wm, Michell, Wesleyan superin-tendent  minister,  South Africa,  Mr. Arthur Michell, of Hayle, and two sons, Theo and Sydney, who are in North America.

Few of his St. Day contemporaries survive him; the late Mr. J. Grenfell Edwards passed away several years ago, and Mr. Charles Bawden more recently; but  Mr.  Fredk. Bawden, one of his earliest friends,  still lives  at Liverpool, and visited him when in Cornwall. Mr. Michell's industry was surprising, as he was  never  of  robust physique.   He was a concientious supporter many good causes and he worked with unflagging zeal and devotion until strength and memory failed him.

                                        H. T.