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RICHARD JOHN USSHER, d.l., m.r.i.a. 

 A MEMOIR. 



B Y " ~ 



RICHARD M. BARRINGTON. 

 (Plate 16.) 



A TRUE conception of the position Mr. R. J. IJsslier 

 occupied amongst Irish Naturalists, cannot be readily- 

 conveyed. Amongst Irish ornithologists he was facile 

 princefs, the " Recording Angel," and had at his 

 finger-ends all the records of the distribution, county 

 by county, of the Irish avifauna. 



As a speHologist, he also took first place — and certainly 

 no Irishman, and very few EngHshmen, have spent the 

 same amount of time and money in excavating caves. 



He was born in April, 1841, and died after a short 

 iUness on the 12th October, 1913, aged 72 years, and 

 was buried in the family vault 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. At the age of 12 he was sent 

 to a school at PortarHngton, and subsequently to 

 Chester, and afterwards, being dehcate, he was educated 

 by a tutor, and entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a 

 non-resident, but owing to ill-health, never took his 

 degree, but passed successive winters travelling with 

 his mother and a tutor in Spain, Italy, Corfu, etc. 



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 pubfic duties in his 

 own county, and 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. 



His interest in Natiu'al History was partly inherent, 

 for as a boy he was fond of egg-collecting, and this 

 taste was developed chiefly owing to the circumstances 

 of his Hfe, for in 1877 his wife became a confirmed 

 invahd, and under this great family sorrow, rehef was 



