Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/123

 Sauvage were reinforced by the acquisition of a large printing business close by.

The New Year Honours List of 1918 announced that a knighthood had been conferred on the General Manager. Sir Arthur Spurgeon had found time, amid all his preoccupations, to do a good deal of public work, notably as a magistrate for the County of Surrey and a member of its County Council, and he had become a prominent figure in the worlds of business and of books. But it was understood that this honour was due especially to the delicate and important services he had given to the Government during the war in connexion with certain matters concerning which he had expert knowledge and experience. His staff and colleagues welcomed the recognition of his qualities and his record with more than their customary warmth. He had already received many evidences of his popularity—a gold cigarette case representing the penny subscription of every one of the 1,676 employees of the firm at home and abroad, presented to him on his fiftieth birthday; a complimentary luncheon from the managers and editors when he was made a Justice of the Peace; and so on. But on this occasion the directors combined with the managers and editors in their congratulations, which were conveyed at a complimentary luncheon to himself and Lady Spurgeon at the Trocadero. Sir Clarence Smith, as chairman of the Board, presented him with a silver inkstand, while Mr. Bernard Jones, for the managers and editors, handed to him an album containing an address and their signatures.

The tributes to Sir Arthur Spurgeon culminated in 1919 with a remarkable expression of the gratitude of the shareholders for the work he had done in reviving the fortunes of Cassell's. There had been a movement towards this purpose in 1914, but the War suspended it. Now, in the presence of a distinguished company, with the Lord Mayor, Sir Horace Marshall, in the chair, at a dinner at the Holborn Restaurant, Sir Clarence Smith presented to the General Manager, on behalf of the shareholders, a