Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Vol. X.1 



WINTER. 1923. 



[No. 8. 



The Late Mrs. Suckling 



It is hardly too much to say that every 

 ardent worker in the humanitarian cause 

 laments the passing away of one of the 

 pioneers of the movement in this country, 

 Mrs. Florence Horatia Suckhng, who 

 died at her home, Highwood, near 

 Romsey, Hants, on December 10th, 1923. 

 Mrs. Suckling had laboured earnestly 

 and incessantly for the welfare of animals 

 for more than half a century, and her 

 name is almost as well known in animal 

 protection circles in the United States 

 and the Colonies as in England, owing 

 to the constant correspondence she kept 

 up with leading workers there. 



Born at Highwood some seventy-five 

 years ago, daughter of Vice- Admiral 

 W. B. Suckling, she early came under 

 the influence of the late Lady Mount- 

 Temple, and the coterie of animal-lovers 

 that gathered at Broadlands, including 

 the Rev. F. 0. Morris, the Rev. Basil 

 Wilberforce, and John Ruskin. At the 

 age of sixteen she began active efforts 

 on behalf of the animals by teaching 

 the village children, and from that time 

 onward her interests centred in the 

 education of the young, so that she was 

 naturally an enthusiastic supporter of 

 the Bird and Tree Scheme of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds and 

 greatly rejoiced in the frequent successes 

 of Ridge School, situated not far from 

 Highwood, where she frequently addressed 

 the children and gave them all possible 

 encouragement. Her early work also 

 brought her in contact with Mr. John 

 Colam, then in the full vigour of his 

 long and ardent labours as Secretary 

 of the R.S.P.C.A., and probably few 

 people did more to determine the lines 

 upon which she worked. She held for 



forty-seven years the post of Hon. 

 Secretary for that Society for Romsey, 

 and was one of the originators of the 

 Band of Mercy movement. 



It is hardly necessary to say that 

 Mrs. Suckling was from the first a warm 

 supporter of the Society for the Protection 

 of Birds. She became in the early 

 days of its existence Hon. Secretary for 

 the New Forest, and subsequently a 

 Fellow and Vice-President, retaining the 

 Secretaryship until the time of her 

 death. Nor was she at any time or 

 in any sense a nominal or apathetic 

 Secretary. Her fluent and eloquent 

 speech, at meetings, summer gatherings 

 at Highwood, and lectures, and even 

 more her facile pen, were constantly 

 devoted to the service of the " lower 

 brethren," and the bird-world in particular 

 had a place very near her heart. In 

 letters to the Press all over England, 

 written whenever some special plea was 

 needed, or some special information, 

 plea, or warning, needed circulation, and 

 in a weekly column for children in the 

 local newspaper — continued up to the 

 last — she inculcated and inspired 

 humanity, justice, and affection for the 

 animal creation ; and few weeks passed 

 in which her voice was not raised on 

 behalf of the birds, victims continuaUy 

 to the greed and cruelty of man. She 

 did not approach the matter as an 

 ornithologist or as one with any personal 

 interest to be served by the preservation 

 of any special birds. To her all birds 

 were simply charming and sentient fellow- 

 creatures, part of the great chain of life, 

 with their place and work in the world 

 and their rights as citizens of that world. 

 Her early acquaintance with Charles 



