IV 



WILLIAM HENRY DALLINGEE, 1842—1909. 



William Henry Dallinger, the son of an artist and engraver, was born at 

 Devonport on July 5, 1842. As a boy he had leanings towards natural 

 science and at one time had thoughts of becoming a medical student ; but the 

 deep piety of his nature prevailed and, after a brief training at Richmond 

 Theological College, he entered the Wesleyan ministry in 1861, and for the 

 next twenty years " travelled in the circuits " of Faversham, Cardiff, Bristol, 

 and Liverpool. At the last-named city he remained for twelve years. 

 During these years he not only kept up his interest in Natural Science, but 

 taught himself German, Greek, and Hebrew. 



In 1880 Dallinger was appointed Governor and Principal of Wesley 

 College, Sheffield, where he did much to develop the modern side of the 

 school. There he remained until 1888, when the Wesleyan Conference, in 

 recognition of the great interest and value of his scientific work, allowed him 

 to retain the status and privileges of a minister without pastoral charge, only 

 retaining his position as a member of the " Legal Hundred." On leaving 

 Sheffield, Mr. and Mrs. Dallinger — he married Emma, daughter of David 

 Goldsmith, of Bury St. Edmunds, and had one son — were presented with 

 some plate and a handsome sum of money, which he characteristically spent 

 in microscopes and other scientific instruments. 



During his tenure of the Principalship of Wesley College, Dallinger was 

 four times elected President of the Royal Microscopical Society, in 

 1884-5-6 and 7. Although living 160 miles from London, he was 

 constant in his attendance at meetings both of the Council and of the 

 Society, and in order in no way to allow these meetings to interfere with his 

 work at Sheffield he was in the habit of returning by the early newspaper 

 train the morning after the Meeting. His devotion to the Society and the 

 tact he showed in the Chair were warmly commented on by Dr. Glaisher, 

 Prof. Jeffrey Bell, and Mr. Crisp on his retirement in 1888. So great was 

 his interest in the Society that shortly after resigning the Presidency he 

 allowed himself to be nominated Joint Secretary, and for some years he 

 continued to labour whole-heartedly for its welfare. In 1890, 1891, and 

 1892 he was President of the C>)uekett Microscopical Club. 



After leaving Sheffield, Dallinger devoted much of his time to lecturing. 

 He was for many years senior Lecturer of the Gilchrist Educational Trust. 

 He first lectured for the Trust in 1879 and continued without a break until 

 the spring of 1909. During the thirty years lie gave about 450 lectures in 

 different towns in the country for tlie Gilchrist Trustees. The titles of some 

 of his most popular lectures were as follows : — 



"An Hour with tlie Modern Microsco))e," "Carnivorous Plants," " Contrasts 

 in Nature — the Iniiiiitely (Jreat and the Infinitely Small," " Evolution as 

 Illustrated in the Minutest Forms of Life," " Spiders: Tlieir Work and Tlieir 



