February, 1909. The Irish Natumlist. 29 



GEORGE HENRY KINAHAN. 



GkorGK Henry KiNAHAN, son of Daniel Kinahan, barrister- 

 at-law, a member of the well-known Dublin family of that 

 name, was born in Dublin 19th December, 1829, and died at 

 Woodlands, Clontarf, 5th December, 1908. 



At an early age he entered Trinit}' College, from which he 

 received his diploma of Engineering in 1853, and immediately 

 started in his profession as assistant, under Sir John M'Neile 

 and Mr. James Barton, at the construction of the Boyne 

 Viaduct, Drogheda. In August, 1854, Kinahan was appointed 

 to the Geological Survey, then under the directorship of 

 J. Beete Jukes, and his first field-work was commenced under 

 the guidance of G. V. Du Noyer and Wyley, in the south- 

 w^estern districts of Cork and Kerry, where he carried on his 

 work with that enthusiasm and zeal which distinguished his 

 entire official life. Eater he removed to Limerick cit}^ where 

 interesting volcanic problems afforded him full scope for 

 theor}' and research. Proceeding to Galwa}^ Kinahan took 

 up the survey of the complicated w^estern area, with which 

 his name is most intimately connected, and it was while here 

 that, in conjunction with the Rev. Maxwell Close, he published 

 his important papers upon the glaciation of that district. 



In 1869, upon Du Noyer's death, he was appointed District 

 Surve3^or of the Geological Survey. In the earlier years of the 

 Surve^-'s existence, field operations and mapping were pushed 

 on so rapidly that little time was afibrded the limited staff to 

 write memoirs on the districts the}^ had traversed, and 

 Kinahan was detailed to remedy this want, so far as the 

 districts of County Wexford and portion of County Wicklow 

 were concerned. This portion of the countr}^ however, 

 having been one of the first surveyed, and the science of 

 geology having meantime made rapid advances, a re-survey of 

 the groiind was found necessary, and in this essential his great 

 experience proved invaluable. No feature of the countrv, 

 however small, from Carnsore Point to the Vale of Ovoca 

 escaped his examination and description. Upon the comple- 

 tion of his work in the south-east, he took up the survey 

 of the Kilmacrennan district of County Donegal, the 

 intricate structure of which was just such a problem as he 

 delighted to unravel. Here he pursued his field labours until 



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