Ernest John Maskell, 1895-1958

Ernest John Maskell was born in Cambridge on 1 February 1895. He went to the Cambridge County School (now Cambridgeshire High School for Boys) with a scholarship. His brothers recall that he was very studious, generally preferring a book to games, in which, however, he played his part. His studious inclination, aided by a retentive memory, reaped its reward of prizes. He became a school prefect, in which capacity he showed a quality he retained throughout his life: a marked ability to get on with his juniors, his equals, and his seniors. He had the privilege of being taught by Dr M. Dawson who later became H.M. Inspector of Schools. She encouraged and stimulated his early interest in botany, and Maskell always, and rightly, held her in high regard. When he reached the Sixth Form, or a little later, he, with nine others, formed ‘The Honourable Order of the Upper Ten’ whose motto was ‘Speak truth, live pure, right wrong, follow the Christ the King’. One of their rules was ‘That it be incumbent upon every Knight to correspond with every other and with the Rev. C. J. N. Child at least every Christmas’. Many did so maintain contact. Another rule was ‘That the Order continue until the death of the last Knight’—Maskell’s was the first death. He maintained his connexion with his old school by serving on the Old Boys Society, of which he became President. He was also, for a long time, one of the members of the Governing Body of the school appointed by Cambridge University. At the age of eighteen he went to Emmanuel College as an Entrance Scholar. In 1915 he was placed in the First Class of Part I of the Natural Sciences Tripos and was awarded the Frank Smart Prize in Botany. At this stage his academic studies were interrupted by his joining the Friends’ Ambulance Unit. In this service he formed a close friendship with a Fellow of his college, Mr L. H. G. Greenwood, who writes: ‘I first came to know him when he was an undergraduate here before 1914, but I remember little about that time. We became close friends during the war at the military hospital in York, mainly staffed by the Friends’ Ambulance Unit, of which we were both members. In the often trying conditions of service there, his unselfish and co-operative friendliness, together with his complete efficiency, did much to make things go smoothly and happily. Later, for a shorter time, we were together at the hospital in Courtrai also run by the Unit, and the same remarks apply to his service there.’