William Ralph Inge KCVO was born in Crayke, Yorkshire on 6 June 1860. He was an English author, an Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, which provided the appellation by which he was widely known, Dean Inge. He was also perhaps more widely known as The Gloomy Dean, an epithet he acquired after giving a pessimistic lecture entitled The Idea of Progress. Inge was a prolific author and, as well as being a columnist for the London Evening Standard for 25 years and his lectures and sermons, wrote some 35 books. He was a committed eugenicist, but also an early supporter of animal rights. At the age of 93 he took a holiday in France and visited Montmorillon. It was here whilst checking the stock of religious books at The Glass Key that Inge suffered his fatal heart attack and died on 26 February 1954.