Vol. 60.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. lxxvii 



Charles Henry Gatty, who became a Fellow of this Society in 

 1862, was born on March 6th, 1836, and was educated at Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1859 and 

 became M.A. in 1862. From his college-days onward he took a 

 lively interest in the natural-history sciences, especially zoology and 

 geology. Having ample means at his disposal, he was able, not 

 only to gratify his own tastes as a collector, but to assist the 

 progress of the investigations of others. Thus he was early 

 attracted to the Marine Laboratory at St. Andrews, established 

 under the Fishery Board, which was the first institution of the 

 kind founded in this country. Eventually he showed his apprecia- 

 tion of the value of the scientific work that was being accomplished 

 there, by offering <£1000 to build a new laboratory to replace the 

 old wooden building which had originally been constructed as 

 a fever-hospital. Subsequently he doubled his donation. He 

 afterwards added still another <£500 for furnishing and equipping 

 the establishment, and in the end doubled this subscription also. 

 His generous nature likewise led him to spend his money freely for 

 philanthropic purposes. Thus he built and equipped a hospital 

 for the sick near his home at East Grinstead. 



He was himself a keen observer of marine life, and made 

 considerable collections among the Channel Islands and along the 

 southern coasts of England. Although he did not publish his 

 observations, he continually communicated them to those who took 

 interest in the same pursuits. \Vith the Marine Laboratory at 

 St. Andrews he was thus in frequent communication, sending 

 notes of what he had himself noticed in Cornwall or elsewhere, 

 and receiving with lively interest reports of the progress of the 

 work at the northern station. He used to pay a visit to 

 St. Andrews every year, spending most of his time there in the 

 laboratory, until failing health prevented him from travelling 

 so far. 



His residence at Felbridge Place, near East Grinstead, was a 

 charming house for a naturalist, surrounded with fine trees and 

 shrubs, haunted by birds of many kinds which were left in 

 undisturbed possession. Dr. Gatty was a Fellow of the Linnean 

 and Zoological Societies and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

 St. Andrews showed its appreciation of his enlightened generosity 

 by bestowing upon him the freedom of the city, while the 

 University conferred upon him its degree of LL.D. He died on 

 December 12th, 1903, unmarried, in the 68th year of his age. 



