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46
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland
[April, 1942
heart appeared to be standing the strain well.
Unfortunately, on Tuesday afternoon, he had
a bad heart attack, and in spite of everything
that the Doctors could do he died early on
the afternoon of Thursday, the 26th March.
The President said it was difficult to find
words to express his own feelings, feelings
which he knew were shared by every member
of the Profession. From the first moment
that he had come in contact with the Secre
tary as an apprentice he had received nothing
but the greatest courtesy, kindness and help
on the many occasions that he had consulted
Mr. Wakely. He knew that all his friends
had the like experience.
It was indeed one
of Mr. Wakely's outstanding characteristics
that he had treated everyone in the Profession
from the oldest member to the youngest
apprentice in the same way. Of few men
could it be said with greater assurance that
he had left not a single enemy behind him.
Throughout his long life he had never done
anything of which he had reason to be
ashamed or to regret, and his sole thought
had been the good of the Profession as a
whole.
A remarkable feature of Mr. Wakely's
character was his youthful outlook which
made him ready to sympathise at all times
with the apprentices who had no stauncher
advocate at the Council Meetings than Mr.
Wakely.
Various members of
the Council had
suggested to him on different occasions in
recent years that the Council would be only
too ready to appoint an assistant as they felt
that with advancing years the onerous duties
might, on occasions, be too much for him, and
they were desirous of retaining his services
as Secretary to the very last. It was charac
teristic of him that he refused the offer of
an assistant on the ground that to accept
it would not be in the best interest of the
Society.
Such appointment, he felt, might
limit the choice of the Council in appointing
a suitable successor when his time came to
resign.
He had talked about retiring as
soon as the Solicitors' Bill, now in draft, was
on the Statute Book and expressed the view
that this would be a fitting climax to his
career as Secretary. Unfortunately, this was
not to be, and he has not been spared to see
the Bill in which he was so much interested
pass into law. He had a fund of knowledge on
all matters connected with the Solicitors'
Profession, and of every individual member
thereof;
the Profession would no longer be
able to have the benefit of his unrivalled
experience.
The President mentioned
that every
member of the Council was present either in
person or had sent an apology and that even
Solicitors
from
the extreme
corners of
Ireland, North, South, East and West, had
come at great personal inconvenience to pay
their last tribute to the Secretary.
The
President of the Incorporated Law Society
of Northern Ireland and the Secretary of
the Council
there were both present at
the funeral and he was sure their own Council
appreciated very much this tangible evidence
of the sympathy of their brethren in the
North.
Mr. W. S. Hayes, the father of the Council,
in endorsing the President's remarks, said
that no words could do full justice to the
exceptional qualities of their late Secretary.
The following resolution was then put to
the Meeting and passed unanimously in
silence, all members standing :—
" The Council has learned with feelings
of the deepest sorrow and regret of the sad
death of its esteemed Secretary, Mr. W. G.
Wakely and tender to all the members of
his family its deepest and most heartfelt
sympathy in their great loss.
The Council feels that it is only fitting
it should attempt to express in words,
however feeble, its unbounded admiration
for
its late Secretary.
He had been
Secretary for over 50 years and it was
largely dae to his unusual gifts that the
Society had attained its present high
position in the regard of the public. His
undoubted abilities, his unfailing tact, his
courtesy and his kindly disposition en
deared him to every one who had the
privilege of coming in contact with him.
These qualities he showed in equal degree
to the youngest apprentice and to the
oldest practitioner, and each alike felt
that in him they had a true friend and a
wise counsellor.