It was with great grief that we heard today of the death of Harry Tummers. Harry was one of the founder members of the Church Monuments Society and a highly respected scholar who was always very generous sharing his knowledge of especially medieval monuments. His thesis ‘Early secular effigies in England: The thirteenth century’ was published in 1980 and still a valuable resource for researchers.

However, Harry later focused on monuments in his home country and published many articles on them, while he was also a frequent, reliable and knowledgeable book reviewer for our journal, Church Monuments. He remained active almost to the very end. We were honoured to review his last monograph on monuments to Dutch canons in Church Monuments 38: that book was an amazing achievement, especially as a large part of the research took place during lockdown.

While his loss is a sad one for his family and friends, his many publications and the part he played in the foundation of the Church Monuments Society are worth remembering even by those who never met him.

Parce, domine, parce seruo tuo, quem redimere dignatus es precioso sanguine tuo