24 



Let us now look at the members who have from 

 time to time occupied the Chair of the Club. 



The first President (or Chairman, as he was then 

 called) was, as we have seen, John Grainger, after- 

 wards Canon Grainger, of Broughshane. 



He was succeeded by George Crawford Hyndman, 

 an auctioneer, who was born in Belfast in 1796. His 

 mind had a scientific bent, and his early ambition was 

 to study medicine, but for family reasons he had to 

 take up a business career. However, his love for 

 science was not allowed to lie dormant, and he became 

 an ardent student of natural history. Conchology was 

 his favourite subject. We have seen that he presided 

 at the inaugural meeting, and he served the Club faith- 

 fully as a member of Committee, and as Chairman for 

 two years. 



His successor was Professor James Thomson, who 



held office for seven years. During that time (in 

 1869-1870) the Chairman became known as the 

 President. Thomson was a son of Dr. James Thomson, 

 head of the Mathematical Department in the Royal Bel- 

 fast Academical Institution. William Thomson, after- 

 wards Lord Kelvin, was his younger brother. In 

 1857, he was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering 

 in Queen's College, resigning in 1873 for a similar chair 

 in Glasgow University. He died in 1892. While 

 residing in Belfast he did some pioneer work as an 

 advocate of public parks: in 1852 he read a paper 

 before a Belfast Society "On Public Parks in connec- 

 tion with Large Towns, with a suggestion for the 

 formation of a Park in Belfast." In this he advocated 

 the purchase of land by towns, for public parks. It 

 took the idea almost twenty years to sink into the 

 minds of the Belfast Corporation. Our first Park — 

 Ormeau — was not opened until 1871. 



The next President was John Anderson, a County 

 Derry man, who was a member of the firm of Young 

 & Anderson, wholesale drapers, Donegall Street. He 

 wrote an excellent " History of the Linen Hall Library" 

 (1888), but his best known and most valuable work is 

 a "Catalogue of Early Belfast-Printed Books," an 

 admirable piece of bibliography which appeared in five 

 parts between 1885 and 1902. 



His successor was the Reverend William M'llwaine, 

 who held office for five successive years. He was a 



