December, 191 3. J he Irish Naturalist. 221 
RICHARD JOHN USSHER. 
A true conception of the position Mr. R. J. Ussher 
occupied amongst Irish naturaHsts cannot be readily 
conveyed. Amongst Irish ornithologists, he was facile 
princess, the " Recording Angel," and, had at his fingers' 
ends all the records of the distribution, county by county, 
of ,the Irish avifauna. As a speleologist, he also took first 
place ; no Irishman, and few Englishmen, have spent the 
same amount of time and money in excavating caves. 
He was born on the 6th April, 1841, and after a short ill- 
ness, died on the 12th October, 1913, aged 72 years, and 
was buried in the family fault at Whitechurch, near his 
residence, on October 15th. His father, who married a 
daughter of Colonel Grant, at one time Governor of Upper 
Canada, was 63 years old at the time of R. J. Ussher's 
birth, so that the two lives extended over a period of 135 
years. The subject of this memoir was the only child 
of the marriage who survived beyond infancy. At the age 
of tweh'e, he was sent to a school at Portarlington, and 
subsequently to Chester. When he was thirteen, his father 
died, and, as he was delicate, his mother kept him at home, 
where he v/as educated by a tutor, and entering Trinity 
College, Dublin, he passed his Little-go as a non-resident 
student, but owing to ill-health, never took his degree, but 
spent successive winters with his mother and a tutor in 
Spain, Italy, Corfu, and elsewhere. 
When twenty-five, he married the eldest daughter of the 
Rev. John Finlay, of Corkagh House, Co. Dublin, and again 
travelled abroad for some years. He then devoted himself 
with energy to public duties in his own county, being, at 
the time of his death, its oldest magistrate save one. He 
became Deputy Lieutenant, Grand Juror and High Sheriff, 
and taking a great interest in Church matters, was for 
many years a member of the General Synod. In politics 
he was a strong Unionist, and as a resident landlord, he 
occupied the house which his father had built amidst 
beautiful grounds, and overlooking artificial lakes. 
His interest in natural history was partly inherent, 
for as a boy he was fond of egg-collecting, and this taste 
