sharpe] 
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
527 
Sharpe (R. Bowdler), 1847-1909 
Dr. Richard Bowdler Sharpe was born in London on 
November 22, 1847, being the eldest son of Thomas Bowdler 
Sharpe, a well-known publisher in his day, whose father was • 
the Rev. Lancelot Sharpe, Rector of All Hallows Staining, in 
the City, and for many years Head Master of St. Saviour’s 
Grammar School in Southwark. He was educated at 
Brighton, Peterborough and Loughborough, under the care 
of relatives in the scholastic profession. 
His first papers, on the birds of Cookham and the neigh- 
bourhood, appeared in the Journal of the High Wycombe 
Natural History Society, and his collection of specimens 
made at this time is in the Natural History Museum, 
S. Kensington. 
On coming to London at the age of sixteen, he entered 
first the service of Smith & Sons, and afterwards that of the 
late Mr. Bernard Quaritch, who proved, throughout Sharpe’s 
life, a kind and generous friend. 
The Library of the Zoological Society having in 1867 
increased to large proportions, it was determined by the 
Council to appoint a Librarian, and on the recommendation 
of the late Osbert Salvin and Dr. P. L. Sclater, the post was 
offered to Sharpe and accepted by him. About 1864, while 
still with Smith & Sons, he had commenced his first ornitho- 
logical work, the Monograph of the Kingfishers (4to, 125 
col. plates, 1868-71), and, owing to the advantages of the 
Zoological Society’s Library, he soon finished this work and 
commenced (with Mr. H. E. Dresser) the Birds of Europe. 
In May 1872, George Robert Gray died, and Sharpe was 
appointed to succeed him at the British Museum and take 
charge of the bird collection. He entered on his duties 
on September 1 1 of that year as a Senior Assistant (becoming 
Assistant-Keeper of Zoology in 1895). To write the Cata- 
logue of Birds he was forced to abandon his share in The 
Birds of Europe , which was completed by Mr. Dresser. Of 
the Catalogue of Birds he wrote with his own pen thirteen 
