Nazi agitation and infiltration into the student body. Together with several other high-ranking Civil Servants, he handed in his resignation on the day of the annexation. After some anxious and frustrating months in Austria, he accepted an invitation to lecture at an American university. While he was waiting in England for his necessary affidavits and visas, the War broke out and he never reached America. Ile stayed in England and held a small Research Scholarship at an Institute of London University. After the fall of France, he, together with all German and Austrian nationals, was interned for a short time.

He was filled with admiration for the fair-mindedness of the British people who found time, at the moment of mortal danger to their country, to consider the fate of these internees and to agitate for their release. He always said that this would not have happened in any other country. He then volunteered to work in a munitions factory in Birmingham, since he wished to be more active in helping the War effort. While giving him satisfaction, the monotony of the work also led to depression, particularly as he had great anxiety about )its wife and daughter who were in Austria. An old friend, Mgr Messnor from the Theological Faculty of Vienna, had found refuge at the Birmingham Oratory, and they often spent Sundays together. It was he who felt that something more suitable should be found avid who was able to interest Professor Bodkin in his case.

Cotton College meant a most wonderful chance for

Dr Zeissl. To become once again a member of a Christian and cultured group of men and to have the opportunity to work once again in the field of Education, even if it was real field work for the first time, gave him tremendous satisfaction. He felt enriched by the friendships which he made and the generous and understanding reception he was given by Headmaster and Staff. As soon as the Austrian Ministry of Education was re-established at the end of the War, Dr Zeissl was recalled to his old post. He was finally flown back in an RAF plane on 1 January 1946.

He started as Head of the Legal Department, drafting the new school legislation, and in 1949 was promoted Permanent Under-Secretary. To make the revivial of the pre-1938 Concordat legally acceptable to the political parties was one of the more interesting features of his work then. In 1949 he represented the Austrian Government at the UNESCO Conference in Mexico City and obtained the acceptance of Austria as a member. He actively spread the ideals of the United Nations inside Austria and was President of the Austrian UNESCO Commission from 1954-60. From 1954-58 he was a member of the Constitutional High Court of Austria. He also became President of the Canon Law Society and Consultor to the Catholic Academy. The obituaries in the Vienna press called him a true representative of the old school of Civil Servants.

He combined great integrity and profound knowledge with an ever-open mind towards progress and change. He was ever eager to find all that was good in new developments. He also combined strong Austrian patriotism with a true desire for a widening of national frontiers in Europe. He married in 1914 and, after a seven year separation during the War, there was a happy reunion. He celebrated his Golden Wedding two days

before his wife died. lie died, after great suffering, at his home in February 1967.

We are indebted to Dr von Zeus's daughter, Mrs A Dee, through the good offices of Canon J W Dunne, for the above information. Mrs Dee, who was able to escape to England with her father, now lives at Boar's Hilt, Oxford, Staff and boys who were at Cotton during the War all greatly admired Dr von Zeissl. He showed wonderful self-control in view of his great anxiety about his wife and second daughter. While he was at Cotton, he was able to keep in touch with his wife through the British Red Cross in Zurich. She eventually made her way to the American lines, and there was a family reunion when his second daughter, seized by the Russians at Clermont-Ferrand University and interned, was released Cotton owes a great deal to this distinguished man. Ed)

FATHER THOMAS M BROWNE (1929-1934; Bursar 1946-56)

Tom Browne came to Cotton from Alton in 1929 and his school days were certainty successful. He had ability in studies, he was a good rugger forward and an original cricketer; he was Captain of Milner House, and in his last year he was Captain of the School. In 1934 he moved on to the Venerabile in Rome and here began a lifetime of illness and suffering. When the time for ordination came the Archbishop was so concerned about his health that he felt It would not be prudent to ordain him. To see if the English climate would be kinder to him than Rome had been, His Grace sent him to Cambridge for a year to read English. At the end of the year the Archbishop was still reluctant to ordain him, and the Master of St Edmund's House, now Bishop of Menevia, prevailed upon the Archbishop to allow him to be ordained. He served as a curate at Stechford and Stoke-on-Trent, and in 1946 was ready to join Fr Clavin at Leek when he was told to re-address his luggage to Cotton. To his great surprise he was asked to become Bursar in place of Father Basil Singleton whose health was causing anxiety.

The War was only just over, and the new Bursar had many problems to face, many difficulties to overcome; not the ideal work for a man with a duodenal ulcer. But he set about his task with cheerful courage. His rolling gait and deep, sonorous voice were soon a feature of Cotton, his huge laugh re-echoing through the house; the Staff soon knew his talent for the vivid phrase which made up in punch for what it may have lacked in delicacy. He was a genial host and was aware how important hospitality was in the work of a Bursar. Yet all the time lie was far from well, and in 1950 kidney trouble brought him to death's door; miraculously he recovered but was never to regain his full vigour. A few years later a major operation was necessary, and after this the Archbishop decided that the work at Cotton was too much for him. lie went as Parish Priest to Hampton-on-the-Hill where he worked happily for six years, and then, feeling that he was capable of taking on a busier parish, he asked for a move and was transferred to St Anthony's, Oxford. Within a few months heart trouble was added to his complaints, and his health deteriorated steadily. In 1967 he moved to Croome Court where he died on 22 June.

The brief facts of his life give no indication of the quality of rather Browne. The courage with which he

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