Barrington, Richard Manliffe, 1849-1915

Richard Manliffe Barrington was born on May 22, 1849, at his family home of Fassaroe Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

He was an Irish naturalist and ornithologist with a delicate constitution and a keen interest in natural science from a young age. His education was primarily conducted at home, except for one year spent at a day school in Bray. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Master of Arts in Experimental and Natural Science in 1870. In 1875, he was called to the bar but soon found work as a land valuer and farmer suited him better. After his father died in 1877, he became more involved in managing the family farm at Fassaroe. In 1882, he began a correspondence with lighthouse keepers on the migration of birds. The results from these exchanges were published in “The migration of birds as observed at Irish lighthouses and lightships” (1900) and included many new records for Ireland. His interests also encompassed native mammals, agriculture, meteorology, and Irish science and economics.

He travelled to Iceland in 1881, remote islands off Scotland in 1883, 1886, and 1890, and Switzerland in 1876 and 1882. Barrington earned a reputation as a mountain climber, having ascended several peaks in the Alps, including the Eiger in 1876, and he walked across the Rocky Mountains in 1884. Barrington was a leader of the Royal Irish Academy's Rockall expedition. His collection of bird specimens, stored in paper envelopes, is preserved in the National Museum of Ireland and the Ulster Museum. He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a member of both the British Ornithologists' Union and the British Association Committee.

In 1898, he married Lena Louisa Richarda Gyles (1863–1960). He died on September 15, 1915, near Fassaroe, Bray, Wicklow, Ireland.