John Venn

“ For new subjects, The natural science and mechanical engineering, he had scant sympathy. It was slowly, and probably with some reluctance, that he was induced to accept the principle that distinction in any subject which was recognised and taught in the university gave a valid claim to a scholarship or fellowship. ”

“ For more than twenty years he was a member of the council of the senate at Cambridge: first in 1865, and continuously from 1878 to 1893, when increasing infirmity obliged him to decline re-election. In the mathematical tripos he acted as moderator or examiner more often, it is believed, than any one else on record. In 1876 Ferrers was appointed a governor of St. Paul's School, and in 1885 a governor of Eton College. ”