THOMAS WAINWRIGHT 209 



post as a junior master in a school at Ryton, near Newcastle ; he 

 subsequently moved to a college at Stoke Newington. _ While at 

 the latter place he matriculated as a student in the University of 

 London in the year 1849, being placed in the first division at the 

 pass-examination. During the sessions 1850 and 1851 he 

 attended lectures in the schoolmasters' class at University College 

 in Latin, Greek, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy including 

 Astronomy ; at his last pubhc examination in Greek he obtained a 

 certificate of honour. 



During a term of fourteen years Wainwright carried on a 

 private boarding school at Bridport in Dorsetshire, where he 

 became a member of the town council. He catalogued, arranged, 

 and translated the valuable old manuscripts in the municipal 

 archives of Bridport, and was regarded as an authority on all 

 matters of local history. 



In 1865 he left Bridport and in the following year took over a 

 similar school at Barnstaple ; in 1872 he w^as appointed head 

 master of the ancient Grammar School there, which position he 

 held until his appointment in 1893 to be the librarian and secre- 

 tary of the North Devon Athenaeum in the same town. This last 

 position exactly suited Wainwright's tastes and abilities, as a 

 scholar, antiquarian, and botanist ; he devoted himself to study, 

 research, and field-botany. He was a member of the Barnstaple 

 School Board during the latter half of its existence, and took an 

 active and successful part in averting what he considered the 

 danger and in avoiding the expense of a board school in the town. 

 In 1900 he published a corrected and enlarged reprint of the 

 "Barnstaple Kecords " ; in 1903 he edited and published the 

 Barnstaple Parish Eegister, 1538 to 1812, His principal fame 

 rests on the wealth of his antiquarian knowledge and his expert 

 skill in reading and translating ancient manuscripts. He spent 

 much time and labour in copying the registers of many parishes 

 in the district, the incumbents of which severally entrusted them 

 to him for that purpose. Always accessible at the Athenasum he 

 was ever ready and willing to place his wide knowledge and deep 

 learning at the service of students and inquirers, and so became 

 the recognised source of information and general referee in local 

 matters, botanical or antiquarian. He was responsible to a great 

 extent for the inauguration and continuance of weekly botanical 

 walks in various parts of North Devon, which during many years 

 are considered to have proved a delightful means of instruction to 

 a band of enthusiastic students. He was the discoverer of 

 Hyijericuvi undulatum Schousb. in North Devon (see Journ. Bot. 

 1875, p. 296). He was an occasional contributor to this Journal, 

 sending short notes on Matthiola sinuata E. Br. (Journ. Bot. 

 1900, 230), and on Linaria arenaria (Journ. Bot. 1907, •151 ; 1914, 

 310). For many years up to 1909 he was the official observer for 

 phenological observations of plants in the Barnstaple district, for 

 the Koyal Meteorological Society. 



Though born of nonconformist parents and baptised in a non- 

 conformist chapel (May 28th, 1826), Wainwright early came 



