PEESIDENX'S ADDRESS. 411 



ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TYNESIDE 

 NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



READ FOR THE PRESIDENT, THE REV. CANON TRISTRAM, F.R.8, D C.L., 

 ETC, AT THE FIFTIETH (JUBILEE) ANNIVERSARY, HELD IN THE 

 COMMITTEE ROOM OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 26th MAT, 

 1897. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — This is an epoch of Jubilees, and at 

 the close of its first half century of existence, the Tyneside 

 i^Taturali^s' Field Club may well claim to notice and record the 

 past, and to look back on a career which, if modest and unobtru- 

 sive, has at least, as we firmly believe, fully carried out the 

 objects which its founders had in view. On 25th April, 1846, 

 at a meeting in Newcastle it was resolved " That a Society be 

 formed under the name of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, 

 for the practical study of Natural History in all its branches, 

 and that the Antiquarians of the district be invited to unite 

 with the Club for the promotion of their pursuits through its 

 meetings." How these objects have been pursued, let the long 

 series of Volumes of Transactions tell. Of the band of zealous 

 naturalists who composed its membership 50 years ago, six still 

 survive, and one of them Mr. Richard Howse, is still an active 

 Co-Secretary of the Club. Our treasurer for far more than a 

 generation, R. Y. Green, we rejoice to find still among our 

 members. Dr. Denis Embleton, our president in 1851 and again 

 in 1874, yet remains the father of the Club. Dr. W. Green- 

 well, F R.S., the illustrious Antiquary, Rev. Walter Feather- 

 stonhaugh, and Dr. James Hardy, whose name is so identified 

 with our elder sister, the Berwickshire, are still spared in a hale 

 and vigorous old age. 



To the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club belongs the proud dis- 

 tinction of being the oldest of all the Field Clubs of Britain. 

 We were among the earliest of its followers, and now there is 

 not a county and scarcely a district in the country which does 

 not possess such an Association. The practical study of Natural 

 History has indeed made rapid strides in the last 50 years. In 



