502 Obituary. 



evidences of the terrible massacre were yet visible on all 

 sides. Here Irby came in for a great deal of fighting, his 

 u record " including the relief of Lucknow under Lord 

 Clyde, the defence of the Alum Bagh under Outram, and 

 the siege and fall of Lucknow. 



From his earliest days Irby had been profoundly in- 

 terested in natural history and his diary of his voyage in the 

 1 Transit/ and of the following months of incessant marching 

 and fighting in India, is interspersed everywhere with entries 

 relating to the birds and other animals which he had shot 

 or seen. 



Lord Wolseley, in his ' Story of a Soldier's Life/ makes 

 frequent allusions to Irby's well-known tastes, and describes 

 several amusing scenes which occurred. Thus, when on board 

 the 'Transit/ Wolselev, who occupied a cabin along with Irby, 

 writes : " A few days after we left the Cape, I remarked a 

 horrible smell in our cabin, and upon sniffing about I found 

 it came from the skin of a Wild Cat carefully pinned upon a 

 board to dry. In my anger I threw it overboard . . . /' 



Another entry is highly characteristic of Irby's ways. 

 Lord Wolseley, describing the life at the Alum Bagh, says : 

 " There were some jeels where my old chum Irby, an 

 unerring shot, managed often to pick up a few Wild Duck. 

 He had a curious soldier-servant whom he had trained as a 

 retriever, and no matter how deep the water was where the 

 duck fell, he quickly brought it to his master." 



For his services in the Mutiny, Captain Irby received the 

 medal with two clasps and was granted " a Year's Service/' 

 After the suppression of the Mutiny, he remained in India 

 until his return to England in September 1860. On June 

 2nd, 1864, he was promoted to be Major in the 90th, and iu 

 October 1864 he exchanged into the 74th Highlanders. In 

 1868 he proceeded with his new Regiment to Gibraltar, and 

 served there until February 4th, 1871, when he accepted 

 promotion to a half-pay Lieut.-Colonelcy. Three years 

 later he retired from the Service. 



Irby's devotion to the study of Natural History never 

 failed him, even in the most adverse circumstances. Before 



