November, 1915. The Irish Naturalist. 



193 



RICHARD MANLIFFE BARRINGTON, 



M.A., LL.B., F.L.S., M.R.I. A. 



The shock caused throughout the whole circle of Irish 

 naturalists by the news of the sudden removal from amongst 

 us of a man so universally beloved as Richard M. Barrington 

 is beyond the power of words to convey. He was the 

 central figure among the enthusiasts for natural science who 

 survived More, and while there was scarcely a leading 

 man among the zoologists and botanists of the United 

 Kingdom whose friendship he did not possess, he had in a 

 no less remarkable degree the confidence of the large circle 

 of lesser naturalists and mere beginners, to whom his mag- 

 netic zeal proved a stimulus that there was no resisting. 



Of an old family that had settled in Queen's County 

 about 1564, Richard Manliffe Barrington (born at Fassaroe, 

 on the 22nd of May, 1849) eighth and youngest son 



of Edward Barrington, j.p., of Fassaroe, co. Wicklow, and 

 only son and eldest child of his second wife, Huldah Bar- 

 rington (nee Strangman). Edward Barrington was the 

 eldest son of John Barrington, of Glendruid, co. Dublin, 

 in whose family strong scientific learnings clearly existed. 

 Of John Barrington's sons, the first (Edward) showed this 

 family feature by the care he bestowed on the meteoro- 

 logical record that he started at Fassaroe, where he also 

 instituted a system of farm accounts that may still be 

 described as a model for all farmers ; Richard, the second, 

 was a good botanist, and the third son, John, is honourably 

 remembered as the founder of the Barrington Lecture 

 Trust. Young R. M. Barrington was a delicate-looking, 

 white-faced boy, but with much open-air life and exercise 

 he grew up a remarkably vigorous and energetic man. 



The love for nature, and particularly for wild plants, 

 grew up with him like an instinct. The beautiful sur- 

 roundings amid which his childhood was spent had doubtless 

 a strong influence on him in this direction, and he was 

 fortunate also in having among his e'der relatives several 

 who encouraged his tastes, and helped him in different ways. 

 He used afterwards to speak with special gratitude of the 



