Lot #115: Antique "Charles E. Flower" Original Engraving "Anne Hathaways Cottage"

DEATH OF CHARLES EDWARD FLOWER. May 10, 1892. The death of Charles Edward Flower is a bereavement to the town of Stratford-upon-Avon and it deprives the Shakespeare fraternity of one of its best friends. Mr. Flower was a native of Stratford-upon-Avon, and he grew up there to be one of its most respected citizens. He loved and venerated the name of Shakespeare ; he was solicitous for the credit of his native place ; and he wished that Stratford might always prove worthy of its association with the first poet of the world. He possessed large wealth and he used it freely for the honour and advancement of his town. He was the founder of the Shakespeare Memorial : he gave the land on which it stands and also the greater part of the money that built it, and he gave and improved and beautified the gardens by which it is en-closed. The corner-stone of the Memorial was laid on April 23, 1877, and the building was opened, with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, on April 23, 1879. Mr. Flower was constantly adding books to its library. One of the gifts that he had in store for it was a set of the four folios of Shakespeare. He edited the Memorial edition of Shakespeare's plays. He was active in every good work in Stratford, and he was respected and beloved by the whole community. One of the last of his labours was the restoration of the Guild Hall and Grammar School of Stratford. That work of restoration will go on, and Stratford will soon possess another object of antique beauty. Whenever a good deed was to be done his liberality never halted. Hundreds of Americans who have visited Stratford will remember his hospitality and recall with pleasure his kindness, his cheerful sympathy, and the refinements and graces of his beautiful home. Not anywhere in the world remains a more devoted worshipper of Shakespeare, a more practical friend of literature and art, a more public-spirited citizen, or a man of more inflexible principle and sterling integrity. Under an austere demeanour Mr. Flower veiled with-out being able to conceal tenderness of heart, gentleness of temperament, quick appreciation of merit and of goodness, and a fine sense of humour. He left no children. His widow in whom his virtues were reflected and increased, and in whom his goodness survives possesses in her bereavement a sympathy too deep for words. Mr. Flower was born February 3, 1830, and he was educated at the Grammar School of Stratford the school of Shakespeare. In 1852 he married Sarah, daughter of Mr. Peter Martineau, of Highbury, Middlesex. He passed his whole life in his native town. He died suddenly, at Warwick, on May 3, 1892, and was buried on May 7, in the Stratford cemetery