of only one brick thick and placed in immediate contact with the wall plate upon which the feet of the rafters rested. The fire, not withstanding the most active exertions of all the male inhabitants headed by William Miles Esq., whose exertions were almost incredible; the aid of the powerful engine from Leigh Court and after an interval of an hour and a half the assistance of three engines from Bristol, consumed the whole of the roof of the nave and south Aisle, the gallery, pulpit, reading desk and nearly all the pews leaving the tower and chancel uninjured. Sir William was Vice-President of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes which sought to improve housing for working families. It eventually became part of the Peabody Trust. Royal Agricultural Society A prominent agriculturalist and one of the founding fathers of the Royal Agricultural Society, he was chairman of the local committee who "contributed to the excellence of the arrangements" for the Bristol Country Meeting. He took a practical interest in experiments on his farms. He regularly hosted the Society and served on its Management Committee as well as being Chairman of the Local Committee at Bristol in 1842 when he judged the trials at Pusey. He lent his own steam engines at Leigh Court for experiments following an anti-modernisation protest in 1847. He was the Royal Agricultural Society's Steward of Implements from 1841 to 1847 and during his Stewardship, the Exhibition of Implements grew from "a couple of sheds to an extend which even then gave promise of the vast proportions which the Shows have attained in recent years". He was then a member of the Council and, from 1852 until his death in 1878, one of the 12 Vice-Presidents. Upon his death, his place as Vice-President was taken by Lord Skelmersdale and the President was the Prince of Wales, a shooting companion of Sir William's son. Sir William served also as President in 1854–5 when he headed the Society's deputation to the Universal Exhibition in Paris when he was "received, both by the Emperor, the Ministers, and the learned Societies of that Capital with marked courtesy." In his obituary, it was said that"... ample testimony should be borne to the unwearied energy which Sir William Miles displayed in everything he undertook. No day was too long for him and no obstacle too great to be surmounted