Naturalists!
Club,

Origin & Progress.

by A.A. C

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Belfast:
_ HUGH GREER, 18 Gresham Street,
1988.

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GENERAL COMMITTEE, 1926-1927.

President :
W. M. CRAWFORD, B.4., F.E.s., F.2.5.
Vice-President:
Re Ss BERBER, i Als.) Re HIST. S.
Hon. Treasurer:
ALEX. H. DAVISON, F.r-s.4.t., 32 Wellington Place, Belfast.
Hon. Librarian:
Rey. W. R. MEGAW, 8.a., The Manse, Rosetta, Belfast.
Hon. Recording Secretary :
J. A. SIDNEY STENDALL, .r.1.4., m.s.0.u., The Museum,
College Square North, Belfast.
Hon. Secretaries of Botanical Section:
Miss W. J. SAYERS, 8.., Bartragh; Knock, Belfast, and
Captain C. D. CHASE, m-.c., m a., Campbell College, Belfast.
Hon. Secretary of Geological Section:
A, McI. CLELAND, 28 Green Road, Knock, Belfast.
Hon. Sccretary of Zoological Section:
JAMES ORR, ».s.o.u., 17 Garfield Street.
Hon. Secretary of Archaeological Section:
A. ALBERT CAMPBELL, F.r.s.a.1., Drumnaferrie, Rosetta Park,
Belfast.
Hon, Secretary of Junior Section;
D. J. CARPENTER, a.r.c.sc.t., 278 Cliftonville Road, Belfast.

Ordinary Members of Committe:

Retire 1927. Retire 1928.
N. CARROTHERS T. EDENS OSBORNE, r.r.s. A.
ROBERT BELL CHARLES E. KERR, 2.4.,

jee Rk Ho GREEV ES, Bosc. F.R.S.AsL
i. Mex. DEANS. ri.p:
Retire 1929.
Sa Au BENINEWE. BA. Bucci
- E. N. CARROTHERS.
JOSEPH SKILLEN.
Hon. Secretaries:
A. H. DAVISON, F.R.s.a.1., 32 Wellington Place, Belfast.
R. J. WELCH, ™.sc., m.r.1.a., 49 Lonsdale Street, Belfast.

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_ JUNIOR SECTION.
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COMMITTEE.
J. A. S. STENDALL, m.n.1a., v.B.0.uU., Chairman.
MISS: Weal SAVERS 3, A.
MISS NORA FISHER.
MISS NORAH NEILL.
MISS NORA STENDALL
Eo Ne CARROMHERS:
RONALD CRAWFORD.
Dye CARPENTER, Elon. Secretary.

During the Summer, Excursions will be held
for the benefit of Junior Members, arranged
as far as possible to illustrate in the field the

lectures given during the winter months.

Belfast
Naturalists’ Field Club:

Its Origin and Progress.

By

Ay ALBERT CAMPBELL,
‘President.

[PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.]

Belfast :
HUGH GREER, 18 Gresham Street,
1988.

FOREWORD.

The following account of the origin and progress
of the Club was delivered, in substance, as my
Presidential Address, on 16th November, and is now
printed in response to many requests at that time and
since. My purpose in compiling it was to help my
fellow-members to visualise the time and place in
which the Club was born, its nurses in infancy, its
tutors in adolescence, and some of its achievements
when it reached maturity. A. A. GC.

January, 1938.

PS
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BELFAST NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB:

Its Origin and Progress.

In the opening months of 1863, the year in which
the Club was born, the world was in its usual state of
unrest. It may be of interest to glance, in passing,
at some of the causes of the strife and bitterness then
prevailing.

America was embroiled in Civil War. The fratri-
cidal struggle between the Northern and Southern
States, on the question of negro slavery, had been
raging from 1859, and was not to cease until 1865.

In Italy, Garibaldi was completing the triumphant
campaign which ended in the liberation of his country
and the placing of King Victor Emmanue] firmly on
the throne.

The quarrel between Prussia and Denmark for
possession of the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig
had every appearance of leading to war.

The Greeks had deposed their king, Otho, and
were trying, in vain, to induce our own Prince Alfred,
Duke of Edinburgh, to take his place.

The French Emperor, Napoleon III, was exasperat-
ing Spain by an effort to place an Austrian archduke,
Maximilian, on the throne of Mexico. He succeeded
in his effort, unfortunately for poor Maximilian, whose
wife became insane, and who was, himself, shot by his
unruly subjects in 1867.

Poland was in a_ state of armed insurrection
against Russian rule, which resulted in its being
deprived of its separate government and losing even
the semblance of independence.

In England a shortage in the supply of cotton,
consequent on the American War, was producing much
distress and unrest among the mill-workers of
Lancashire; and in Ireland Fenianism was rampant,
and secret preparations for a “rising” were being
feverishly pushed forward.

6

In 1863 life was vastly different from what i is
to-day. Seventy-four years ago women wore crinoline
(a long petticoat made to project all round by means
of wire hoops); they encased themselves in whale-
bone stays or corsets, wore thick bodices, woollen
stockings, and high-buttoned or elastic-sided boots;
their hair was piled over pads on top of their heads,
and most of them had never heard of lipstick.
Children looked quite “cute” in little pantalettes with
lace edges.

Men shaved their upper lips and chins, wore high-
crowned hats, thick flannel underwear, big watches and
bigger watch-chains, worked from twelve to fourteen
hours a day, and lived to a ripe old age.

To-day, women wear silk stockings or no stockings,
short and narrow skirts, low shoes with high heels, no
corsets, and an ounce of underwear. They “bob” their
hair and cultivate “perms,” paint- their lips, their
cheeks and their finger and toe nails, powder their
noses, drink cocktails, and smoke cigarettes.

Men, nowadays, have high blood-pressure (un-
heard of seventy years ago), in many cases do not wear
hats, keep up the instalments on their motor cars, talk
about “going round in fifty-seven,”

“Tumble Nature heels o’er head and, yelling with the
yelling street,
Set the feet above the brain and swear the brain is in
the feet,”
as Tennyson writes; work as few hours as possible,
and die young.
*

And the homes of the people have experienced
ereat changes. The modern bungalow, with simple
but .comfortably furnished sitting-rooms, and _ hair
mattresses and open windows in the bedrooms, has
taken the place of the house of the sixties with the
canary’s cage and a pot of aspidistras in the parlour
window, a photograph album and the children’s school

(

prizes on the parlour table, and a feather bed and
closed windows in every bedroom.

*

Coming to our own town of Belfast, what was it
like in 1863? The population was about 122,000, now
it is nearly 438,000. There were no typewriters, no
telephones, no safety bicycles, no trams, no taxis, no
aeroplanes, no public parks, no Royal Avenue, no
Botanic Avenue, no Victoria Street, no Lombard
Street, no Albert Memorial.

The town had three bridges—the Queen’s, the
Ormeau, and the Albert (commonly known as “the
ha’penny bridge,” because until recently it had been
owned by a private Company who charged a to.] on
the traffic). The Queen’s Bridge, built in 1842, took the
place of the old ‘‘Long Bridge,” which consisted of
twenty one arches and was eight hundred and forty
feet long. A local poet wrote of 1t—

“Spanning the Lagan, now we have in view,
The great Long Bridge, with arches twenty-two.”

He explained in a footnote that it had only
twenty-one, but for the sake of rhyme he had to add
another arch!

The most prominent man in the town was John
Rea, a police-court attorney of eccentric character.
He cultivated a style of advocacy that would not be
tolerated to-day; his forcible removal from Court was
of frequent occurrence. He described himself as an
“Orange-Fenian,” and was the idol of the riff-raff and
hooligan element of the population. Someone has
described him as “a great burly figure, with massive
shoulders supporting a strong pugnacious head,
aggressive side-whiskers, . . . . and a nose that
sniffed the battle from afar.” There is a story
told of him that on one occasion he was in Omagh
defending some Orangemen accused of a misdemea-
nour, and, elated by his success on their behalf, they

8

entertained him after the trial, drinking stout while
he drank only lemonade. He regaled them with the
Irish patriotic poetry of Thomas Davis “till they were
in tears,” it is said, the entertainment ending in a
procession through the town of Orangemen “full of
patriotism and porter.”

*

The intellectual life of Belfast in 1863 was con-
fined within a narrow circle, A Natural History
Society had been established in 1821 for “the culti-
vation of Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy in all their
branches, more especially the investigation of the
Natural History and Antiquities of Ireland.” Ten
years later (1831) the Society entered into occupation
of the special building which had been erected by public
subscription for the holding of its meetings, and to
house its collection of natural history and antiquarian
specimens. It should be mentioned that text-books,
compiled by a member of the Natural History Society,
Robert Patterson, F.R.S., did much to foster the study
of natural history in the schools of the period. In
1840 the Society adopted its present name—The
Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.
Its membership in those early days included such
distinguished scientists as William Thompson, author
of “The Natural History of Ireland,’ and John Temple-
ton, one of the foremost naturalists of his time.

In 1860 a few members of the Natural History and
Philosophical Society organised a course of scientific
lectures in Belfast under the Science and Art Depart-
ment, South Kensington. Professor Jukes, who
afterwards became Director of the Geological Society
of Ireland, and whose ‘‘Student’s Manual of Geology,”
edited by Geikie, is well-known to some of us, was
sent by the Department, and he delivered a series of
lectures on geology to classes of nearly four hundred.
The Natural History and Philosophical Society was
greatly encouraged by the interest shown, and decided

9

to continue the good work. Through the Science and
Art Department it obtained the services of Ralph Tate,
F.G.S., a distinguished student of the School of Mines
in London. He conducted classes in Belfast and the
neighbouring towns in Geology, Zoology and Botany.
While in Belfast he compiled a ‘‘Flora Belfastiensis,”’
the earliest Ulster “Flora.” He made a special feature
of field work in his course of instruction.

At the end of Tate’s first series of lectures some of
his pupils, including men afterwards well-known in
the Field Club—S. A. Stewart, George Donaldson, and
Hugh Robinson—determined to continue their fellow-
ship during the summer months, and arranged to meet
once a week and go somewhere for a walk after busi-
ness hours, or for a Saturday afternoon run on one of
the excursion trains. In this way they kept up their
interest in natural history, and resumed their class-
work in the winter with undiminished zest.

Early in 1863 Mr, Tate had occasion to go to London,
and during his absence the following letter appeared
in the “Northern Whig” (January 27th) :—

FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB,

Sir,—An earnest desire to awaken the naturalists of this
town, especially the young ones, to the want of a “Field
Naturalists’ Club” in this, our Northern Athens, and which I
sincerely hope will not continue long, has induced me to
trouble you with this letter.

Field Naturalists’ Clubs are formed for the furtherance of
natural history by means of excursions in the Summer to
some well-known provincial locality rich in Nature’s beauties
and wonders, there to observe, collect, and admire. The
locality selected for an excursion is generally rich in the
subject or branch of Natural History for which the object of
the excursions is intended, and the members are always
accompanied by some of the local eminent Naturalists, who
lecture to them on the subject of the day’s excursion. Prizes
are also awarded to the party who succeeds in collecting and
arranging the largest variety of specimens in the day's
excursion, and season prizes for the best coliection in every
braneh at the end of the season. Throughout the winter,
meetings are held in the lecture room.

10

Clubs of this kind are now quite common in England, the
most prosperous being in Manchester and’ Liverpool, each
having from between six hundred to seven hundred members;
and one of the chief causes, as stated in the report, of their
great rise and popularity, is the admission of lady members,
whose presence doubles the enjoyment both of rural rambles
and scientific investigation.

We have a Natural History and Philosophical Society,
which supplies a want for our older and more enlightened
Naturalists, but the papers and topics read and discussed are
in most cases too abstruse and scientific for the young
Naturalist to comprehend or appreciate, and also the sub-
scription is beyond his means. Therefore, what is wanted is a
Society which will elucidate Natural History in a popular and
pleasing manner to the young Naturalist, and the subscription
of which will come within the bounds of his pocket—say 5/-
—which is the subscription generally established in all
the English. Clubs.

The study of nature must always refresh the enquiring
mind, and every branch of Natural History, whether it be the
study of plants, insects, or that of birds and animals, shells,
minerals, fossils, &c., has in this district wide fields for the
zealous student to explore. Now that nature is just awaken-
ing from her winter sleep it is therefore a very suitable time
to commence to study her. I hope, therefore, that the
formation of such a Society will at once be “taken up,’ and
also that the eminent Naturalists of our present Society will
come forward and further its promotion,

I remain, your obedient Servant,
Belfast, Jan. 26, 1863. Woes e.

Stewart, Donaldson, Robinson and their friends
did not know what to make of this. They thought that
they had a sort of little Naturalists’ Field Club in their
own way, but here was something which might lead to
a bigger thing than they had contemplated. They
met—probably in Stewart’s shop in North Street—and
discussed the matter, and Stewart and Robinson were
deputed to follow up W.T.C.’s letter, which they did,
their letters appearing in the “Whig” of Monday,
February 2nd.

Robinson’s letter reads :—

FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB.

Sir,—I was much pleased on reading your paper of 27th
inst., with the excellent suggestions thrown out by your
correspondent, “W-T.C.,” respecting the formation of a Field
Naturalists’ Club in Belfast.

at

I would gladly join such a Club, and have no doubt that a
large number of young veople would consider it a great
privilege to be connected with it, as it would be calculated to
improve and expand the mind, while the excursions would
Improve the health and strengthen the constitution, enabling
the members to attend to their avocations with clearer heads
and lighter hearts. Many in Belfast may not be aware of the
classes that have been open for the last two years in the
Museum here, under the “Department of Science and Art,”
comprising Botany, Natural History, Geology, Mineralogy,
&c. Examinations are held, in these classes in April er May,
and prizes and medals are awarded by the Government to
successful competitors. It is also usual for these classes to
have frequent excursions to places of scientific interest for the
purpose of making collections of specimens in the different
branches they are connected with.

{ think it would be a great advantage to those who wish
to join the “Club” to join the above ciasses, the subscription
to which is a mere trifle, as by doing so they would get.
some knowledge of the different sciences before the weather
would be suitable for either botanical or other excursions;
and as these classes are not held during the summer months,
I would suggest that all the class members should join the
“Club,” and continue their excursions at stated periods during
the time the classes are closed. By this means a knowledge
of the natural objects and rare forms of the district might be
obtained, which it would be verv difficult for a single person
to gain without the assistance of his fellow-Naturalists.

Hoping that some of our eminent men of science and
- influence will take up the subject, and for the sake of those
less learned than themselves set about it in earnest, and not
cease until they get formed a “Field Naturalists’ Club,” and
if once formed there is little danger of the youths of Belfast
being last in the race for: fame.

TI remain, Sir, yours respectfully,
“A YOUNG GEOLOGIST.”

Sam Stewart’s letter was as follows :—

Sir,—I am glad to see your correspondent “W.T.C.” call-
ing attention to the want in our town of a Field Naturalists’
Club.

Belfast surely contains as many ardent students of
Natural Science as would maintain efficiently a Club con-
ducted on the plan proposed by your correspondent. Since
the formation of the railway lines which radiate from our
town. we have easy access to a district second to no other in
the United Kingdom for the study of the various branches
of Natural Science. The Geologist has choice of many forma-
tions of palaeozoic and of secondary rocks rich in fossil
remains of the fauna of former epochs. The Conchologist has
a magnificent sea coast to explore, and the beautiful diversity
of mountains and valley scenery which we possess makes it
a delightful occupation to be engaged in making a collection
of examples of the flora of our country.

12

We have in Belfast many gentlemen whose scientific
attainments reflect honour on our town, and I do hope that
some of these gentlemen may be induced to countenance such
a Club as your correspondent has sketched. Under their
guidance it would be a great success and would impart a last-
ing stimulus in our locality to pursuits whose value cannot
be over estimated.

I happen to know that several other parties with whom
I am acquainted are anxious for the establishment of some
organisation to conduct scientific excursions.

I am, Your Obedient Servant,

S.A.S.
Belfast, January 29th, 1868.

“W.T.C.,” whose letter originated the correspon-
dence, got into communication with the three friends
through the good offices of the editor of the “Whig,”
and wrote to them personally, inviting them to his
house to see what could be done. He turned out to be
W. T. Chew, a young business-man who was interested
in the entomology of the district. |

The correspondence had appeared at an opportune
time, as the ground had been prepared by Tate, who,
on his return from London, took up the project with
enthusiasm. Fortunately, Tate, previous to coming to
‘Belfast, had had some experience of Field Clubs in
England. He drafted a document for signature by
persons who were willing to guarantee the expenses
necessary “to form a Society to be called the ‘Belfast
Naturalists’ Field Club,’ for the practical study of
Natura] ‘History in all its branches, by holding at least
six field meetings in the year, and fortnightly (or
otherwise) evening meetings for the reading of papers
by members; as far as possible such papers to treat
of the Natural History and Archeology of the district.”

This document, in fact, provided a draft constitu-
tion for the proposed Club, and our present Constitution
merely amplifies it. It was signed by a considerable
number of Tate’s pupils at the Science Classes and by
others interested—in all, fifty-three men and a few
ladies.

It was considered that there was sufficient support
to warrant the calling of a public meeting, which was
held in the Museum Buildings, on 6th March.
At this meeting Mr. George C. Hyndman pre-
sided and Mr. Tate acted as secretary. Rules were
formulated along the lines suggested by the document

:
A
SRORE ASSIS

George C, Hyndman.

| = tea
| Belezee=

7 Joseph Wright,

15

from which I have quoted, office-bearers were
appointed, and the Club was launched,

The office-bearers appointed were :—

Secretaries—Ralph Tate and W. T. Chew.

Treasurer—A. F. Herdman (Alexander F. Herd-
man was a member of the well-known flax-spinning
family who established a flourishing, manufacturing
business at Sion Mills, near Strabane. He died towards
the middle of the Club’s first year).

Committee—John Grainger, M-A.; S, A. Seduidet:
William M‘Millan, John W. Forrester, Robert Work-
man, William Campbell, William H. Patterson, John S.
Holden, John W. Browne, Thomas Workman, Hugh
Robinson, and Samuel Symington. ,

The Committee met’ on 13th March and elected
John Grainger as Chairman. Afterwards well-known
as the Rev. Canon Grainger, D.D., of Broughshane,
he was at this time about to enter on his lifework in
the Church. He had been educated at Belfast
Academy, then situated at the corner of Academy
Street and Donegall Street, of which the Rev, Dr. R.
J. Bryce was Headmaster. Dr. Brvce’s brother, James,
taught. Mathematics and Science, and on. Saturday
half-holidays he gave his pupils practical instruction in
geology and other branches of natural history by
excursions to the Cave Hill and other suitable places;
in fact, James Bryce was a pioneer in the introduction
of. Natural History as a branch of school education.
Later on; the Grainger family moved to Holywood, and
here John Grainger came into intimate fellowship with
Robert Patterson’s two sons, William. and Robert, both
of them keen Naturalists. ~He entered T.C.D. in 1849,
eraduated in 1854, and finished his divinity course in
1855. For some years afterwards he was occupied in
the business of his father, who was a shipowner, and it
was not until the 21st December, 1863, that his ordina-
tion took place. He remained in Belfast for a couple of
months, completing his term in the Chairmanship of
the. Chub, and “then .left- for. ‘a curacy”. in> Dublin.
Grainger never wrote much on the scientific subjects
which interested him. He was more than anything else
a collector, and his accumulation of some 60,000
natural history and archeological specimens found a
home before his death in the Belfast Municipal
Museum in Royal Avenue. We all remember ‘The

16

Grainger Room.’ He died in November, 1891, and
was buried at Broughshane, where, for twenty years
he had ministered in the Parish Church. A few years
ago, at one of our excursions, we visited his grave.

Next on the list of members of the first Com-
mittee comes the name of Samuel Alexander Stewart.
Dr. Praeger has well said of him—

“Among the men of science which the North of Ireland
has produced—and the list includes some famous names—
Samuel Alexander Stewart stands unique. He was a remark-
able example of a man who, starting life almost without
education, and from the age of eleven years earning his
livelihood by long days of scarcely remunerative work, never-
theless succeeded, by sheer determination and industry, in
attaining a recognised position in the world of science and in
being looked up to as a local authority not only in botany,
but in zoology and geology as well.”

He began life as an errand boy, later on succeed-
ing to his father’s little business of trunk-making in
Lower North Street. He came under the influence of
Ralph Tate at the science classes, and, aS we have seen,
he, Robinson, Chew, and Tate set the Club agoing.
How much it owes to Stewart’s enthusiasm and driving
force in its early years it would be difficult to over-
estimate. He helped Tate with his “Flora Bel-
fastiensis,” and he helped Dickie with his “Flora of
Ulster” in 1864. Though he devoted much time and
toil to the study of local geology, on which he produced
several valuable reports and papers, his reputation as a.
scientist really rests on his work as a botanist. From
a “List of the Mosses of the North-East of Ireland”’ he
passed on, in collaboration with a young friend,
Thomas Hughes Corry, to a general survey of the local
flora. On the death of Corry by drowning, while
studying the flora of Lough Gill, Stewart struggled on
single-handed, and in 1888 produced his monumental
work, “‘A Flora of the North-East of Ireland.’’ He had
been Assistant Curator of the Museum in College
Square North from 1880, but still carried on his
business in North Street. He gave up the shop in 1886,
and in 1891 succeeded William Darragh as Curator.
He retired in 1907, and died in 1910, at the age of 83.

William M‘Millan was one of the five young men
who met at Mr. Chew’s house to discuss the formation
of a Field Club. He was probably a schoolmaster at
that time, afterwards becoming an Inspector of
National Schools. When entertaining the Club to

Rev. Canon Grainger, D.D.

JES)

dinner at his residence, Loy House, Cookstown, in 1884,
cn. the occasion of its first visit to the district, he
remarked that nothing he had ever done had given him
more pleasure than the part he had taken in the early
life of the Club.

The next name on the first Committee is John
William Forrester. He was connected with the firm
of Richardson Brothers and Company, ‘“‘linen, flax,
erain, and general commission agents,” of 30 Donegall
Place. At a Club meeting in December, 1865, he con-
tributed a paper on ‘‘A Stone in the Museum said to be
Con O’Neill’s Tombstone”; in March, 1866, he read
a paper on “The Round Towers of Ireland;” in
February, 1867. one on “Tintern Abbey,” and in March,
1868, one on “Gossip about old Belfast.’’ His name
disappeared from the roll about 1871.

Robert Workman was a son of Robert Workman,
of Windsor, a prominent Belfast business man. He
was educated at Queen’s College, graduating B.A. in
1863, with Honours in Natural Science, and taking his
M.A. the following year. He became minister of
Glastry Presbyterian Church, in the Ards, spending a
long life there. He died in 1924.

Of William Campbell I know nothing. His mem-
bership was short, his name disappearing from the roll
by 1871.

William Hugh Patterson’s name comes next. He
was the eldest son of Robert Patterson, F.R.S., whose
very useful natural history manuals I have referred to.
He was a keen naturalist and archeologist. And in
other directions he distinguished himself; his ‘‘Glossary
of Words and Phrases used in Antrim and Down,”
published in 1880, is a treasure-house of Ulster
dialect. He died in 1918,

John Sinelair Holden was a son of John Holden, a
Belfast rate collector, who resided at Holywood. J.
S. Holden was at this time a medical student at
Queen’s, where he graduated M.D. about 1865. In
1863-4 he conducted classes in Chemistry in one of the
class-rooms of the Academical Institution. After
obtaining his medical qualification, he practised for a
time at Glenarm, and then removed to Sudbury, in
Suffolk, where he spent the remainder of his long life,
dying at the age of 86 in 1923, He never lost his
early interest in Geology and Archeology, and was a

20

Corresponding Member of the Club till the day of his
death.

_ John W. Browne was, I presume, John Walton
Browne, who afterwards became a leading Belfast
surgeon, and was knighted in 1921. He was born in
1845, so that in 1863 he was probably a student at
Queen’s.

The next name is that of a young man of twenty,
Thomas Workman, who devoted himself to the study
of spiders. He travelled extensively on the continent
of Europe, North and South America, and the Far
East. His collection of spiders included specimens
from all parts of the world, and his name was given
to at least two new tropical varieties. Besides a
valuable Irish List in the “Entomologist,” 1880, he
wrote a book in two volumes on “Malaysian Spiders.”
The first volume was published in 1896, but the second,
although completed before his death, remains un-
published. He died in 1900. He was a linen merchant
and also one of the founders of the firm of Workman,
Clark & Co., Ltd., shipbuilders. Major Robert Work-
man, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Linen
Hall Library, is his son.

Hugh Robinson, born in 1845, at 26 North Street,
was the eldest son of Samuel D. Robinson, a brush
manufacturer and proprietor of the Temperance Hotel,
82 Donegall Street, which still bears the name of the
family. Hugh Robinson was for some years con-
nected with the wholesale drapery trade, to which he
had served an apprenticeship. He early showed a
taste for the study of Natural Science and won several
prizes at the classes under the Science and Art
Department. Eventually he became Secretary of the
Belfast School of Art and, in 1884, Registrar of the
Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He took a lead-
ing part in the formation of the Club. For eleven
years he acted as its Secretary, with William Gray as
his colleague for six years and William Swanston for
five. From 1887 to 1889 he was President. He died
in 1890.

Samuel Symington, whose name is last on the list,
was a yarn buyer for Brookfield Linen Co., Ltd., and
lived at Dundonald. —

*

il

The Club held its first Field Meeting at Island-
magee on 6th April, 1863. Members and friends to
the number of eighty-eight went by train to Ballycarry |
station. The Lias beds near Barney’s Point were ©
visited, and the characteristic fossils of the formation
obtained in abundance. Mr. Tate and William Gray
appear to have acted as conductors.

The second excursion was to Lough Neagh, the
third to Castle Espie, and subsequently visits were paid
to Drumbo and the Giant’s Ring, Carrickfergus,
Magilligan and Benevenagh, Whitehead, and Woodburn
Glen.

During the winter eight meetings were held, and
it is interesting to note who were the readers of
papers and their subjects :—Mr. Chew (‘‘The aim and
progress of the Club’), Mr. Tate (“The Geographical
Distribution of the Plants around Belfast’), Mr.
Stewart (“The occurrence of some rare and little
known plants in the Belfast district’), Mr, Forrester
(“Some Remarks on the Wheat Plant’), Mr. Robert
Workman, B.A. (“British Forest Trees’’), Mr. Holden
(“Some connecting links between plants and animals’’),
Mr. W. H. Patterson (“An Account of Lough Neagh,
historical and physical, with a notice of some of its
Fishes’), Mr. Tate (“The correlation of Liassic strata
of Belfast with those cf England and the Continent’’),
and Mr. T. H. Browne (“Nineveh and its remains’’).

In the following Spring the Club lost the services
of both its first Secretaries, Mr, Chew leaving for
London, to occupy a new business position there, and
Mr. Tate to enter on the Assistant Secretaryship of the
Geological Society. Of Mr. Chew we hear nothing
more, but Mr. Tate’s subsequent career is worthy of
record. His official connection with the Geological
Society did not last long, for we soon find him making
a geological and mining survey of a South American
State, and not long after he received an appointment
worthy of his abilities, the Professorship of Natural
Science in the University of Adelaide, South Australia,
which he held until his death in 1901 or 1902. In 1869
he visited Belfast, and joined in a Club excursion to
Larne and Islandmagee, and again in 1896 he paid a
visit to the North of Ireland.

In the second year of the Club’s existence a dis-
tinguished man became a member, Professor Wyville

22
fe ad

Thomson, one of the foremost zoologists of last
century. He was a Scotsman who filled the Chair of
Zoology and Botany in Queen’s College. In 1869, he
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1876
he was knighted. But by that time he had left Belfast,
and was Professor of Natural History in Edinburgh
University. He was best known in connection with the
“Challenger” Expedition to explore the mysteries of
ocean depths, and to examine, name and classify the
strange forms of life found there. One of his students
in Belfast—the late Reverend and Right Honourable
Thomas Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s Univer-
Sity, wiites ob hina:

“Who that joined in the Saturday botanical excursions
can ever forget them? Sometimes their scene was the bosky
shades of Collin Glen, sometimes the Cave Hill, sometimes
the banks of the Lagan. Thomson, with his vasculum slung
on his shoulder, and the ribbons of his Glengarry cap
streaming in the wind behind him, strode rapidly along at
the head of his band of students, halting ever and anon to
speak of the plants of note that were discovered. Then, as
the afternoon wore on Professor and students would gather
under the shade of some umbrageous tree, or on a mossy
bank, while the treasures that had been collected were dis-
cussed along with the sandwiches for which the morning’s
ramble had prepared excellent appetites.”

A charming picture of student lfe in Belfast
seventy years ago.

*

On 10th and 11th June, 1868, the Club, to the num-
ber of thirty-four, held a Field Meeting at the Giant’s
Causeway, with William Gray as conductor. Mr. Mack,
a well-known Coleraine photographer of the time, took
a group on “the Honeycomb.’ This—the earliest
photograph in existence of the Club—is reproduced on
another page.

*

Robert Welch used to talk of the Club’s “luck”’ in
the matter of weather, and, no doubt, we are, as a rule,
extremely fortunate in this respect; but, nevertheless,
untoward events have from time to time occurred, For
example, in August, 1867, a party of thirteen, on a two-
day excursion, were “marooned” in the Glens of
Antrim Hotel, Cushendall.

“It had been determined,” write the Secretaries, “to visit
Glendun and Glenariff, and every arrangement was made for
the purpose, but ere the day dawned a violent storm of
drenching rain set in, and continued, without the slightest
intermission, for the entire day, cutting off all hope of the

99
25

party’s anticipated enjoyments. The swelling flood seemed to
rejoice in their disappointment, and the whistling wind to
mock their leader’s call. Imprisoned thus, the interval be-
tween an early breakfast and the hour for lunch was passed
in pleasant games, and the severity of fate’s decree was
softened by the melody of song.”

But worse befell those members attending the
Field Club Conference at Rosapenna in July, 1910, who
had been on a trip to Tory Island. Dr, Praeger tells
the story :-—

“By five o’clock we were aboard again enjoying a hearty
tea, and the ‘Cynthia’ steamed off into the fog, which was
slowly becoming denser. Experiences were exchanged,
observations compared, notes made, and specimens safely
put away. Meanwhile, Horn Head _ being—presumably
re-passed, the steamer edged southward, endeavouring to
find her way into Sheep Haven. The light north-easterly
breeze died away; the slight lazy roll on the ocean ceased,
showing that the vessel was now within the heads; but still
no land, until at length a clamour of sea-birds, growing
gradually louder, arose to starboard, and then suddenly the
white foam around a conical stack became visible close
ahead, followed by a long line of foam along the base of a
range of clitfs. The place could not be identified, and so in
thirteen fathoms the anchor went down. Air and water alike
were still, and the only sound was the incessant clamour of
the birds—the musical cries of hundreds of kittiwakes, the
hoarse notes of guillemots and razorbills and the shrill piping
of their young, and the calling of herring gulls. Time passed
slowly, but presently, as darkness was falling, a cheer
heralded the approach of a long white fishing boat. From her
crew the pbefogged party learned their position—close in
under the ‘Little Horn,’ south-east of Horn Head; but in view
of the gathering darkness and the heaviness of the fog, the
captain decided not to move. So the party settled down for
a night at sea. A few cushions and rugs were produced, and
life-belts were requisitioned as pillows. A smoking concert
was organised on the upper deck, in which Mr. Donald,
assistant manager at Rosapenna Hotel, proved invaluable;
and at 10-30 “dinner” was announced—a cup of tea, without
milk, and one sandwich all round. By 1 a.m. all was silence,
but a couple of hours later the birds again took up their
chorus, and a new day came. At four o’clock our indomitable
waiter went round with a number of lumps of sugar in a
saucer—the last of the provisions, At seven the fog seemed a
trifle lighter, and the captain warily crept away eastward, and
presently land was sighted which was made out to be Black
Rock, off Rosguill. Then the end came with startling
suddenness. The mist began to lift; soon the sun came
bursting through; and by 8 o’clock the ‘Cynthia’ came up to
Downings Pier in full sunlight, with the mist rolling in
sheets of flowing white off the surrounding hills. Never was
breakfast more welcome than that to which the party sat
down half an hour later.”

*

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‘Ilwaine,
who held office for five successive years. He was a

20

Dublin man, and incumbent of St. George’s Church,
High Street. He was a keen controversialist in
matters ecclesiastical as well as scientific. I have a
copy of a rather scarce pamphlet which he published in
1874, vigorously combating the claim of the then
incumbent of St. Anne’s, the Rev. Robert Hannay
(father of “George A. Birmingham,” the novelist) to
the designation of “Vicar of Belfast.” In that same
year (1874), Tyndall’s Address to the British Associa-
tion on Darwin’s evolution hypothesis, drew from him
a caustic reply which he delivered as his Presidential
Address in his first year of office He read papers to
the Club on such subjects as “Scientific Nomenclature,”
“Sponges, their structure and growth,” and “Life, as
treated in the theories of modern biologists.” He wrote
articles for the old “Ulster Journal of Archzology,”’
and for “Science Gossip,’ and even perpetrated poetry.
Arthur W, Stelfox, of the National Museum, Dublin, is
his grandson.

Next came William Gray for two years. He was
a Cork man, who settled in Belfast in 1862 as represen-
tative of the Board of Works in the district. He joined
the Club immediately on its formation, and for over
fifty years he was one of its most energetic members.
He held the office of Secretary, along with W. H.
Ferguson, from 1865 to 1869, and with Hugh Robinson
from 1870 to 1875—ten years in all, and he was Presi-
dent for a second term of two years, 1889-91. He
applied himself principally to the local study of flint
implements, producing a booklet on the subject entitled
“Trish Worked Flints, Ancient and Modern.” Some-
times Gray was rather “dilficult.””. When, in 1891,
William Swanston proposed that the honorary member-
ship of the Club should be conferred on Robert Welch
for his very valuable contribution of photographs to
the Club’s Album of Antiquities, Gray strenuously
opposed on the ground that honorary membership was
intended for bestowal on very distinguished men or
eminent scientists who had given assistance to the
Club, and also because he considered that the fact of
Welch being a professional photographer seriously
detracted from the value of his gift. Gray’s ungracious
attitude did not meet with any support from the Club,
Frank Bigger expressing the general opinion when he
remarked that he altogether differed from Giay in the

26

idea that honorary membership should only be con-
ferred on “big-wigs’’ who had done little for the Club,
while hard-working members, who had conferred on it
considerable benefit, should go unhonoured. But Gray
did good work for the City by his persistent and
ultimately successful advocacy of the adoption of the
Public Libraries Act. He died in 1917.

His successor in the Chair was Robert Young,
afterwards the Right Honourable Robert Young, a
well-known Belfast architect. He was a pupil of Sir
Charles Lanyon, County Surveyor of Antrim, and
acted for a time as his chief assistant in railway con-
struction, bridge building, and similar work—the
three-arched viaduct spanning Glendun was his design.
He also acted as resident engineer at Athlone for
William Dargan when the railway from Dublin was
being made. Mr. Young was an enthusiastic archzolo-
gist, and an ardent student of ancient Irish music.
When I knew him he was almost 90, vigorous and
energetic, and exceedingly kindly and courteous. He
died in 1917, at the age of 95.

Lieutenant-General Smythe, of Abbeyville, White-
abbey, succeeded Mr. Young as President. ‘He joined
the Club about 1876, and died about 1888. His chief
interest was archeology. Many of us are familiar with
the fine Celtic cress erected over his grave in Carn-
money churchyard.

William Hugh Patterson followed for two years.
I have already referred to him as a member of the first
Committee. Then Canon Grainger was again called to
the Chair for a couple of years, and was succeeded by
Hugh Robinson, another member of the first Com-
mittee, followed by William Gray for a second term of
office. That brings us down to 1891, when John Viny-
comb became President. He was for many years head
of the art department in Marcus Ward’s. His
reputation as an artist rests chiefly on his work as a
designer of ex libris. Some of his heraldic bookplates
are masterpieces.

William Swanston, 2 manufacturer of linen com-
modities, followed Vinyecomb. He joined the Club in
1867, became a member of Committee in 1869, and was
Secretary from 1875 till 1890 (15 years), when he
became Librarian. In 1894 he was elected an Honorary
Member, and he was the first recipient of the Club

Thomas Workman, J.P.

B.N.F.C. at Giant’s Causeway, 1868.

A)

Medal (1923). Geology was his chief study, and with
Charles Lapworth, afterwards Professor of Geology in
Mason University College, Birmingham, he carried out
a very important piece of work on the fossil remains,
mostly graptolites, in the Silurian rocks of County
Down. The result of their investigation is embodied
In an Appendix to the Club’s Proceedings, 1876-7.

The next President was F, W. Lockwood, an archi-
tect and civil engineer. He contributed to the Club’s
winter meetings papers on “Round Towers,” “Sculp-
tures on the Church at Maghera,” “English Castles
of Strangford Lough,” and “Crannoges in Lough-
mourne.”

in two years he was succeeded by Lavens
Matthewson Ewart, a linen manufacturer, second son
of Sir William Ewart, Bt., by his’ wife, Isabel,
daughter of Lavens Matthewson, of Newtownstewart.
He compiled a useful Diocesan Handbook for Down
and Connor and Dromore, and was a frequent contri-
butor to the second series of the “Ulster Journal of
Archeology.”” He was best known as an antiquary and
collector, particularly of local maps and books. ‘His
collection of Belfast-printed books is housed in the
Tanen Hall Library. He died in 1898.

Next came the Reverend Coslett Herbert Waddell,
Vicar of Saintfield from 1890 till 1912, and then Rector
of Greyabbey till his death in 1919. He specialised in
mosses and in critical genera of flowering plants such
as brambles, roses, hawkweeds, and knotweeds. For
forty years, from his election in 1879, he maintained
a warm interest in the Club, serving long on its Com-
mittee and occupying the Chair for two years. He
was followed by Francis Joseph Bigger, lawyer,
antiquary, and historian. I use again some sentences
I wrote of him at the time of his death, 1926—‘“For
more than thirty years he was a prolific writer on the
history, antiquities, and old social customs of his native
province. He edited, with conspicuous ability, the
‘Ulster Journal of Archssology’ (second series, 1894
to 1911). ... When the ‘Irish Naturalists’ Journal’ was
started, he gave it his cordial support, consenting to
act as a Sectional Editor for Archeology and con-
tributing several articles. ... He loved all Nature, and
was never happier than in the garden at Ardrigh
among his feathered friends and his flowers.” Bigger

20

was succeeded by W. J. Fennell, an architect. He con-
tributed papers on such subjects as ‘Half an hour in
Canterbury,” “Bangor,” “Great Burial Mounds of.
Lough Crew.” Next came W. H. Phillips, who had the.
unique distinction of serving the Club as Treasurer
from 1864-5 to 1869-70, and from 1891-2 to 1912-13—
twenty-eight years. He was one of. its original
members. An ardent fern lover, almost all his:
contributions. to the winter meetings were on the
subject of his favourite plant. He died at Holywood,
comparatively recently, at a ripe old age. His suc-,
cessor, Robert Patterson, was a grandson of Robert.
Patterson, F.R.S., to whom I have made _ several
references. Robert Patterson (the grandson) was
much interested in: birds. His death took place in
1934- 2 : i

Nevin Harkness Foster, a Tyrone man, came next.
He had been a member from 1899, and served as
Secretary from 1908 till 1905. He was President for.
1910-11, and Treasurer from 1913 till 1917. A student
of Zoology, his pr incipal interest was birds, but he was
also interested in woodlice, contributing an Appendix
on them to the Proceedings for 1917-18. He received
the Club Medal in 1924. Then followed another
Tyrone man, Robert John Welch. So much was
written of him at his death, little over a year ago,
in the “Irish Naturalists’ - Journal” and elsewhere,
that | need not dwell upon his unique personality.
We will not soon forget his breezy presence at our
winter meetings, his schoolboyish pranks at our
summer excursions, and at all times his intensely keen
sense of humour, which sometimes exasperated us,
but generally disarmed criticism. |

Reverend Canon Henry William Lett succeeded
Welch in 1912-13. He was a Hillsborough man, born
in 1836, and did not join the Club until middle age, but
he made up for lost time by the enthusiastic vigour
with. which he pursued his researches, especially as
regards mosses. His most important publication was
a “Census Report on the Mosses of Ireland,” published
by the Royal Irish Academy in 1915. He was also
interested in archeological research. He collaborated
with Colonel Berry in an exhaustive survey of the
“Black Pig’s Dyke’ in 1896 or 1897. Sometimes, in
his botanical work, he lacked caution in dealing with

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imes Thomson, D.Sc.,

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Miss Sydney M. Thompson
(Madame Christen).

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99
25

critical plants, but, on the whole, he did good work as
a keen and observant field naturalist. R. L. Praeger
came next, and was followed (1916-17) by A. R.
Dwerryhouse, Lecturer on Geology at Queen’s. His
book entitled, “The Earth and its Story,’ written while
he was in Belfast, is an admirable introduction to the
study of Geology. Then came A, M‘I. Cleland for a
couple of years, succeeded by Stephen Allen Bennett,
Science Master at Campbell College (1898-1926),
botanist, geologist, and archeologist, whose recent
death (1934) we all deplore. He veceived the Club Medal
in 1931. His successors were Reverend W. R. Megaw,
J. A. S, Stendall, James Orr, W. M. Crawford, R. S.
Lepper, D. J. Carpenter, Miss W. J. Sayers, Captain
Chase, Charies E, Kerr, Professor Charlesworth, Dr.
Gregg Wilson, C. R. Nodder, Joseph Skillen, and A. H.
Davison.
*

But there have been noteworthy men and women
on our roll of members who never reached the Chair.
I may mention a few.

Joseph Wright, a Cork man and a member of the
Society of Friends. When he came to Belfast in 1868,
to take up a position: in Forster Green’s grocery
establishment, he was already a member of the
Geological Society of London, and he had made a
collection of Carboniferous fossils from the neighbour-
hood of Cork which is now in the British Museum.
On settling in Belfast, he immediately joined the
Club and entered on an intensive study of foraminifera,
a subject on which he eventually became an authority.
He died in 1923. Dr. Praeger, in his recently-pub-
lished book—‘‘The Way That I Went’—relates a
characteristic anecdote of Mr. Wright:—

“A more kindly enthusiast than Joseph Wright,” he
writes, “never lived. I remember one occasion on which his
self-restraint and benevolence were put to a severe test. In
a dredging sent to him from—lI forget wWhere—he discovered
a single specimen of remarkable novelty—the type of a new
genus of Foraminifera. He mounted it temporarily on a
slide—neglecting to put on a protective cover-glass, for he
was a careless manipulator—and at a conversazione of the
Belfast. Naturalists’ Field Club held immediately after-
wards, he showed it to J. H. Davies and others. Davies was
a fellow-Quaker, an ardent bryologist, a man of singular
courtesy, a neat and skilful microscopical expert. Seeing
that the slide was dusty, and not noticing the absence of the

34

usual cover-glass, Davies leisurely produced a silk pocKet-
handkerchief and, before the horrified eyes of the owner,
in a moment ground the specimen to powder!—But Wright’s
self-restraint stood even that test. He gasped, and his face
went white; but he uttered no word of reproach. ‘It couldn’t
be helped’—and that was an end of it.” rok
Hugh Lamont Orr, father of our esteemed fellow-
member, James Orr, was a fine all-round naturalist,
with a special interest in hymenoptera. He was one of
the most active workers in the Club, and for many
years a useful and popular member of Committee. He
devoted considerable attention to conchology and
entomology, and for some years before his death, in
1915, he was engaged on a List of the Wild Bees and
Wasps of the North-East of Ireland. He was an expert
in the mounting of specimens, and was always ready to
give advice and practical assistance to young
naturalists.
Robert Bell joined the Club in 1898. He died on
12th April, 1934. During those forty years he did more
than any other man of his time for the advancement of
scientific and archeological knowledge in the North of
Ireland. First and foremost, he was a geologist, but he
was also a keen archeologist. At a Club meeting in
1921, he mentioned some of his geological discoveries.
He said that in 1902 he found in Sluggan Bog a jelly-
like mass which puzzled him. It turned out to be
“dopplerite,’” a mineral new to the British Isles. In
1908 he found “beekite’’ on certain fossils from -the
Chioritic Sands of the Upper Cretaceous. In 1919 he
found at Cat-cairn, Ligoniel, a mineral new to Ireland,
a zeolite named “gyrolite.” Another mineral, new to
Ireland, which he found in the basalt of Killyleagh,
was “phacolite.” In July, 1921, he discovered in the
lignite deposits of Lough Neagh a trunk of lignite
partly silicified, which he considered proof that the
silicified wood found round Lough Neagh came. from
the lignite beds. In archeology he had accumulated a
magnificent collection of flint implements. He was a
great favourite of his fellow-members. His innate
kindliness and courtesy endeared him to all with whom
he came into contact.

Balfour Browne was Lecturer on Botany at
Queen’s, under the late Professor Gwynne-Vaughan
(whose widow is now Professor of Botany in London
University). Mr. Browne left Belfast to become Pro-

Or
v0

tessor of Zoology at the Imperial Institute, London,
and since his retirement, about a couple of years ago,

he has devoted himself to his favourite study—water
beetles.

George Donaldson was one of the first members
of the Club to take a scientific interest in the study of
land and fresh-water mollusca. He afterwards became
an authority on local lepidoptera. He died on 6th
March, 1925, the last survivor of the original members
of the Club.

Miss Sydney Mary Thompson (afterwards
Madame Christen), a niece of William Thompson,
whose “Natural History of Ireland” I have mentioned,
became a member in 1891. She has been described as
“an accomplished artist, a keen botanist, and_a still
keener geologist, and never so happy as when sur-
rounded by workers whom she could help ‘and
encourage.” She died in Scotland in 1923.

Nathaniel Carrothers, who was awarded the Club
Medal in 1925, had been a member from 1892. He
became a member of Committee in 1906, and served on
it almost continuously for nearly twenty years. His
work was chiefly in connection with the Botanical
Section, of which he was several times Secretary, and
to which he contributed many Papers and Notes, In
botanical matters his decision was regarded as final.
He was always ready to place his profound knowledge
of his subject and his ripe experience at the service of
his fellow-members.

W. J. C. Tomlinson joined the Club in 1901. He
served on the Committee frequently, and was Joint-
Secretary, with W. H. Gallway, in 1906-7. His papers,
read to the Club, included “The Evolution of the
Mourne Mountains,’ “Some Recent Records of our
Local Flora,” ““Connemara Plants,” “Geological Aspects
of Coast Erosion,” ‘Local Plant Gleanings,” “Plant
Communities.” He died on 29th June, 1921. I think
he was employed in the engineering department of the
Northern Counties Railway.

Sylvanus Weir, a corn-miller by trade, was a most
proficient botanist. He had only one effective eye, but
in practical field work he was far more efficient than
most people with normal sight. For many years he acted
as Club Librarian, and in connection with the Second
Supplement to the “Flora,” published in 1923, the

36

labour of preparing the MS, for the Press from the
material supplied by his colleagues and himself fell
entirely on him. He died within a week of the com-
pletion of the task.

I may say, in passing, that in the preparation of
the new edition of the “Flora,” which the Club is
issuing under the general editorship of Dr. Praeger,
invaluable assistance is being given by Mr. Megaw,
who has undertaken the Section dealing with mosses
and hepatics, and by Miss Sayers, who has been inde-
fatigable in the laborious work of checking habitats.

Thomas Edens Osborne, gramophone merchant,
was Treasurer from 1921-2 till 1923-4. Many of us
have pleasant memories of Tom Osborne, ‘‘a fellow of
infinite jest.” His quips and puns still linger in our
memories,

5

In 1874, on the occasion of the meeting of the
British Association in Belfast, the Club issued a
“Guide to Belfast and the Adjacent Counties.” I think
l am correct. im statins: that it. was the first) time
a town had provided a book of this kind as part of its
scheme of hospitality for members of the Association.
An admirable little book it was, full of useful topo-
graphical and scientific information and tastefully
printed and bound by Marcus Ward & Co. It was
written by the following members of the Club—John
Anderson, Wiliam Gray, Rev. Edmund M’Clure, Rev.
William M‘Ilwaine, Rev. George Robinson, Hugh
Xobinson, S. A. Stewart, and William Swanston.

In 1902, when the British Association again met
in Belfast, the Club again produced a “Guide” for its
use.

+

In 1913 the Club made a brief incursion into the
field of journalism with the “B.N.F.C. Quarterly
Journal,” devoted to the furtherance of the open-air
study of natural history in the north-east of Ireland.
The first four numbers (January to October, 1913)
were edited by Arthur Stelfox, and the next four
(January to October, 1914) by the Committee of the
Junior Section of the Club. Publication was not
continued.

Mention of the Junior Section reminds me that the
credit for its inception is due to Mr. Stendall. Within

a7

a year of his election to membership—to be precise, at
the Annual Meeting on 28th April, 1911—he brought
forward a scheme for encouraging and training boys
and girls interested in natural history, and, in spite of
considerable opposition he carried his project to a
successful issue. Entirely on Mr. Stendall‘s initiative,
the Junior Section was established on 16th June, 1911.
He acted as its Secretary for a year or two, to give it a
good start, and since then it has grown enormously in
usefulness as well as in numbers. In this connection
Mr. Stendall did a good day’s work for the Club.

In 1895, a magazine on a wider basis than the
“B.N.F.C. Quarterly Journal’ was established at the
suggestion and under the auspices of the Club—“The
Irish Naturalists’ Journal.” It was meant to take the
place of “The Irish Naturalist,” then lately defunct, but
it has developed into something much more important
than that little magazine. It began as the official
organ of the Club and four other scientific societies ; it
now represents fourteen. Mr. Stendall has been Editor-
in-chief from the start, and he is ably assisted by a
staff of capable Sectional Editors.

Every member of the Club should be a subscriber,

x

One of the most important pieces of work under-
taken by the Club was the examination, in 1889, by a
Committee which it appointed, of the 25-feet Raised
Beach at Larne, where the earliest worked flints of
Ireland have been found. The results of the investiga-
tion of the relation between the distribution of the
flints and the stratification of the gravels will be found
in an exhaustive Report in the Proceedings for 1889-
90; and the whole story of the Larne eravels, told by
W. J. Knowles, of Ballymena, in an admirable article
in the “Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society”
for January, 1914, was afterward reprinted in pam-
phlet form under the title of “The Antiquity of Man
in Ireland.”

*

In 1931, the Club appointed a -Survey of
Antiquities Committee, with Miss Gaffikin as Secretary,
to collect all available information, topographical and
pibliographical, regarding the antiquities of Northern
Ireland. This work is being carried on; the informa-

38

tion received is classified, indexed, and made easily
accessible to members and others; and, in time, it
should form a valuable record.

More than sixty years ago, it is interesting to
note, the Club encouraged research of a similar kind.
In 1870, the prehistoric: remains at Moyaver, near
Armoy, were reported on by a Committee of the Club,
and the “plan” which this Committee prepared (see
the reproduction in the Proceedings) will compare
favourably with similar productions of to-day. And
in this same year (1870) the Club began a pictorial
record of our prehistoric and later antiquities. The
Committee recommended that members and friends of
the Club should embrace every opportunity to multiply
records of this description—photographs and drawings,
to be permanently preserved in the Club’s Portfolio.
We find frequent mention of this Portfolio sub-
sequently. What has become of it?

~ In 1908, when the Ulster Fisheries and Biological
Association was established for the study of marine
zoology, several of our members took an active part in
its researches, notably Dr. Gregg Wilson, William
Swanston and W. H. Gallway.

The institution of a Medal, suggested by Mr.
Stendall in his Presidential Address in 19238, was a
notable event in the annals of the Club. It is awarded
from time to time “for work in Ireland in connection
with: the Club’s activities.”. For so far the Club
Medallists have been twelve in number :—

1923—William Swanston. 1931—S. A. Bennett.
1924—-Nevin H. Foster. 1932—J. A. S. Stendall.
1925—Nathaniel Carrothers.. ~ 1933—A. M‘I. Cleland.
1926—Robert Bell. 1934—Dr. Gregg Wilson.
1927—R. ly. Praeger. 1936—Prof. Charlesworth.
1928—Robert J. Welch. 1937—Rev. W. R. Megaw.

—a dozen men who were, surely, well worthy of the
highest honour the Club could bestow on them. Alas!
six of them have already been taken from us.

4

In 1923, the Route Naturalists’ Field Club was
established, largely through the instrumentality of the
Hon. Helen Macnaughten and the Rev. E. M. Gumley,
at that time Rector of Ballintoy. Subsequently Clubs

a9

were organised at Londonderry, Cookstown, Limavady,
and Omagu, and each of them, at its own request, was
affiliated to our Club. We encourage them by supply-
ing lecturers for some of their winter meetings, and
by holding joint field meetings with them in summer.

*

The excursions of the Club have not been without
their humorous incidents. Everyone has heard the
story of the pompous member who said to a labourer
digging in a field, ““My good man, do you know of any
objects of botanical, geological, or archeological in-
terest in this neighbourhood ” The rustic looked at
him in silence for a moment, then said, “‘Sowl, you're a
lad!” spat on his hands, and went on with his digging.

On an excursion to Glendun, the members of the
party collected a good number of ferns, Lastrea
Oreopteris being found in great profusion. Several
dozen plants of it were carried off, to the astonishment
of a native, who exclaimed, “‘I’ll gie a poun’ tae onv wan
who’ll redd thon field o’ the dirty bracken!’’

In 1871, on a visit to south Donegal, the driver of
the conveyance professed to know something of
geometry, and on one of the party asking him if he had
vot over “the ass’s bridge” (the 5th proposition of
Euclid), he replied, “No, but a druv a pair of bays over
Connolly’s bridge !”’

On one oceasion a party of members dismounted
from their conveyance near a small village in a remote
part of the country. As customary, they set about
their respective hobbies, some gathering wild flowers
and plants, some chipping off chunks of rock, some
turning over stones in search of beetles, and probably
one or two, with nets, rushing madly after butterflies.
Of course, the curiosity of the villagers was aroused,
and an old woman was overheard saying to her
neighbour, “I wonder who they are?” “Och! they’re
from an asylum,” was the reply, ‘‘and,” pointing to the

9

conductor, “thon wan’s the keeper!
*

Naturally, as the name of the Club suggests, field

work forms a large part of its activities. From April

to September, excursions are held to places of interest

to the several Sections. Of course, the proportion of

40)

expert workers in the Club is small compared with the
number of members who are merely interested, but
this 1s, and always will be, the case in Associations
such as ours. Allshonour to those who have attained,
_ or are endeavouring to attain, to some degree of pro-
nerency sana joranch ol jnabunal > nisto ya toreaninl
archeology! But, fortunately, the enjoyment of
Nature does not mainly depend upon technical know-
ledge, though the acqui:ement of technical knowledge
is well worth while: we can take pleasure in the moun-
tains without being able to name their constituent
rocks, and in the verdant fields without knowing the
botanical names of the flowers and plants they nourish.

The province of the Club, as I see it, is to foster a
love of Nature in men and women who are immersed
in the cares and responsibilities of the ordinary avoca-
tions of the workaday world. In this way, the Club
has been and is a great source of mental stimulus and
refreshment. It welcomes to its ranks representatives
of all classes, all creeds, all shades of political opinion,
and unites them in a common brotherhood. So long as
it affords to such people a common meeting-place
where, in the study of Nature and of the records of
Man, they can cultivate a spirit of mutual helpfulness
and forbearance and good fellowship, so long will the
Club flourish.

‘The blocks tor the illustrations have been Kindly lent by
the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery,

41

APPENDIX.

Chairmen,

1863-64 — John Grainger, M.A.
1864-65 |

& r George C. Hyndman.
1865-66 |
1866-67

to ; Professor James Thomson, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S.
1868-69 |

ae

Presidents.

1869-70 }

to + Professor James Thomson.
1872-73 |
1873-74 — John Anderson, F.G.S., J.P.
1874-75

= ¥LO r Rev. William M‘Ilwaine, D.D.

1878-79 |
1879-80 |

& ‘ William Gray, M.R.I.A.
1880-81 |

1881-82 — Robert Young, C.E.
1882-83 — Lieut.-General Smythe, \M.R.I.A,
1883-84 |
&=— . William H: Patterson, M.R.1.A.
1884-85 |
1885-86 |
& rf Rev. Canon John Grainger, D.D., M.R.LA.
1886-87 |
1887-88 |
& + Hugh Robinson, M.R.I.A.
1888-89 |
1889-90 |
& + William Gray, M.R.I.A.
1890-91 |
1891-92 |
& i
1892-93 |
1893-94 — William Swanston, F.G.S.
1894-95 |
.-&~ + F.-W. Lockwood, C.E,
1895-96 |
1896-97 |
& Galucavens: Vi Ewart,» J.P... MRA.
1897-98 |
1898-99 |
& tRev. C. H. Waddell, B.D.
1899-1900 |
1900-01 |
to =| Krancis Joseph Bigger, M.R.LA.
1902-03 |

John .Vinycomb, M.R.1LA., F.R.S.A.I.

42

1903-04
& } W. J.Wennell, MR.LA‘L.
1904-05 |
1905-06 |
& 4 WV Phillips:
1906-07 |
1907-08 |
& | Robert Patterson, M.R.1.A.
1908-09 |
1909-10 Nevin He Moster, HalbiS. Vion An Vis OnOn
1910-11 ]
& |} Robert J. Welch, M.R.1.A.
19TN-12 |
1912-13 |
& ; Rev. Canon H.-W. Lett, M.R.1.A.
1913-14 }
1914-15 |
& + Robert Lloyd Praeger, M.R.I.A.
1915-16 |
1916-17 |
& + A. R. Dwerryhouse, D.Sc., F.G-S.,; M.R.1.A.
1917-18 |
1918-19 |
& |} A. MI. Cleland.
1919-20 |
1920-21 |
& | S. A. Bennett, M.A., B.Sc.
1921-22 |
1922-23 — Rev. W. R. Megaw, B.A:; M.R.1.A.
1923-24 |
& > J. A. S. Stendall, MR LAS M-B-O.u:
1924-25 |
1925-26 — James Orr, M.B.0O.U.
1926-27-—— Wi WE Crawtonds ByAy BV ROwS.. ESZis)
1927-28 — Robert S. Lepper, M.A., F.R. Hist. S.
1828-29 — D. J. Carpenter, A.R.C.Sce.L.
1929-30 — Miss W. J. Sayers, B.A.
1930-31 — Capt. C. D. Chase, M.C., M.A,
1931-32 — Charles E. Kerr, B.A.
1932-33 — Prot. J.) Ko. Charlesworth: (Desc. EVGas.) Wicks ieA
1933-34— Gregg Wilson, O.B.Bh., M.A., D.Se., M:R.I.A.
1934-35 —C. R. Nodder, M.A.
1935-36 — Joseph Skillen.
1936-37 — A. H. Davison, F.R.S.A.I.
1937-38 — A. Albert Campbell, F.R.S.A.1I.

Honorary Secretaries,

1863-64 — Ralph Tate and W. T. Chew.
1864-65 — William H. Patterson and Charles H, Brett.

1865-66
to
1868-69

1869-70
to
1874-75
1875-76
to
1879-80

1880-81
to
1885-90
1890-91 — F. W. Lockwood and R. L. Praeger.

1891-92 |
& ¢+ R.: L. Praeger and F. J. Bigger.
1892-93 |
1893-94 |
Gi Seb je Bigger:
1894-95 |
1895-96 |
San id. Bisger and-Alex, G. .Wilson:
1896-97 |
1837-95. J., Bigger and. J. st, J, Phillips:
1898-99 — J. St. J. Phillips and W. D. Donnan.

William H. Ferguson and William Gray.
William Gray and Hugh Robinson.
Hugh Robinson and William Swanston.

William Swanston and F. W. Lockwood.

ST Ue a ee eee

1899-1900 |

& tW. D. Donnan and William Gray.
TIOG-O1 +.)
1901-02 |

& rod. ot. J. rnillips: and Robert Patterson.
1902-03 |
1903-04 — Robert Patterson and Nevin H. Foster.
1904-05 — Nevin H. Foster and James Orr.
1905-06 — George C. Gough and George Donaldson.
1906-07 — W. H. Gallway and W. J. C. Tomlinson.
1907-08 — W. H. Gallway.
1908-09 — R. J. Welch and Miss Jean Agnew.
1909-10 |

& . } Miss Jean Agnew and Arthur W. Stelfox.
1910-11 |
1911-12 — A. W. Stelfox.
1912-13 |

& p> A. W. Stelfox and Miss Margarita D. Mitchell.
1913-14 |
1914-15 |

| ea ae
1915-16 |
1916-17 |
to } Miss M. W. Rea and J. K. Charlesworth.

|
J

44

1919-20 —- J. A. S. Stendall and A. M‘I. Cleland.
1920-21 — A. M‘I. Cleland and Mrs. G. G. Gibson.
19212227.)
& 4 As MEL Clellama:
1922-23 |
1923-24 |
to. > A. Albert Campbell and Dr. T. M. Deans,
1925-26 |
1926-27 — A. H. Davison and R. J. Welch.

1927-28 |

& $ E. Norman Carrothers and A. EB. Muskett.
1928-29 |
1929-30 |

to ; Joseph Skillen,
1934-35 |
1935-36 — W. G. R. Skillen and William Sweeney.
1936-37 |

& + Joseph Skillen and W. G. R. Skillen.
1937-38 |

Honorary Treasurers.

1863-64 |

to
1869-70
1870-71

to
1879-80
1880-81

to
1887-88
1888-89

to
1890-91 |
1891-92

to
1912-13
1913-14

to
1916-17
1917-18

to
1920-21
1921-22

to
1924-25
1925-26

to
1933-34
1934-35

to
1937-38

WW. By Phillips;

Greer Malcomson.

Joseph Wright.

Fa) NO SS

S. A. Stewart.
We HeePiailaose
Nevin Hy Hoste,
S. M. Macoun.
rT He Osborne:
A. H. oawisam,

Robert G. Henderson. F.C.A,

PRESENTED
ke 9 DEC 1938

a — - SY SS !

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7 Megat:
fees, isons

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