Mr. Sidney Oldall Addy, M.A. antiquary and man of letters, died at his house in Orsett Terrace, W., on Wednesday after a long illness, at the age of 85. Born at Norton, Derbyshire, on January 9, 1848, he was the son of the late Mr. James Addy, colliery proprietor, and was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read classics. He was admitted a solicitor in 1877, and retired in 1905.

Besides contributing papers to antiquarian journals, he was the author of numerous works, among which were "Historical Memorials of Beauchief Abbey," 1878; "The Sheffield Glossary" (English Dialect Society), 1888 and 1891; "The Wall of Waltheof," 1893; "Household Tales with other Traditional Remains," 1895; and "The Evolution of the church and Manor," 1913. In 1923 he discovered the authorship of Catholicum Anglicum. The fourth edition of his book, "The Evolution of the English House," which was published this year, was characterized as an "absorbingly interesting book." The problem created by Shakespeare's will of 1616, as to whether he was a good husband aw well as a great poet, was the subject of a seven-column argument by Mr. Addy in Notes and Queries and of an article in The Times of January 16, 1926. His conclusion was such as remove the stigma from Shakespeare's memory. In 1899 Mr. Addy married Mary Golden Parkin.