Robert Francis Ruttledge

Robert Francis Ruttledge
Born 11 September 1899
Brownshill, County Carlow, Ireland
Died 12 January 2002 (aged 102)
Greystones, County Wicklow
Nationality Irish
Fields Ornithology

Robert "Robin" Francis Ruttledge (1899 - 2002) was an Irish ornithologist, also known as "The Major", who is best remembered for his work in the systematic recording and conservation of Irish birds over a period of sixty years.[1]

Life

Robert Francis Ruttledge was born in Brownshill, County Carlow on 11 September 1899.[2] He was the eldest son of Thomas Henry Bruen Ruttledge and Mary Caroline (nee Browne-Clayton).[3] Ruttledge grew up in County Mayo, at the family home of Bloomfield House.[4][5] He attended Marlborough College[2] and later the Quetta Military Academy, India.[4] Ruttledge married Mabel Rose (nee Burke) in 1928, with whom he had two daughters.[2]

Military career

Ruttledge served in the Indian army in the 34th (1918–21) and 17th Poona Horse (1921–34).[4] He served during the 1919 Waziristan campaign,[2] and as a commandant of the bodyguard of the governor of Madras from 1933 to 1936.[4] Ruttledge retired from the army in 1939 as a major, but he was recalled in 1939 to the Poona Horse at the outbreak of the World War II however he was invalided out before he returned to active service.[2]

Zoological work

Ruttledge has been described as one of the founders of Irish Ornithology, having played a key roll in the observation of birds and the establishment of bird sanctuaries.[6] Both Ruttledge and his brother William were keen naturalists.[7] He published his first paper at age sixteen in the Irish Naturalist on the birds of Lough Carra,[2] and went on to publish over 200 papers over his lifetime.[4]

Ruttledge is cited as being a key figure in highlighting the decline in Ireland of the Greater white-fronted goose, which allowed for the protection of the Irish population of these birds.[8] Ruttledge was involved in the establishment of the bird sanctuary on Saltee Islands[6] and Cape Clear Island.[9]

Ruttledge launched the Irish Bird Report (now Irish Birds) in 1953,[4] and continued to edit it for 19 years.[2] In 1961 he was awarded the Bernard Tucker Medal by the British Trust for Ornithology, and an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1981.[2] Ruttledge served as the first president of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy (now BirdWatch Ireland),[4] with the Greater white-fronted goose as it's emblem.[2]

Published works

References

  1. ↑ Hutchinson, Clive (1998). "Bird Study in Ireland". In Foster, John Wilson; Chesney, Helena C. G. Nature in Ireland: A Scientific and Cultural History. Dublin: The Lilliput Press. p. 275. ISBN 9780773518179.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Major Robin Ruttledge". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Bunbury, Turtle. "Browne Clayton of Browne's Hill, Co. Carlow". Turtle Bunbury. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 McNabb, Joseph (2009). Ruttledge, Robert Francis (‘Robin’, ‘Jim’). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  5. ↑ Landed Estates Database. "Estate: Ruttledge (Bloomfield)". Landed Estates Database. NUI Galway. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 RTE. "Living the Wildlife: Seabirds and the Saltee Islands, Wexford". RTE: Living the Wildlife. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Praeger, R. Lloyd. "Some Irish Naturalists: A Biographical Note-book". National Botanic Gardens of Ireland. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Crowe, Olivia. "Species Focus: Flagship species suffers decline". Birdwatch Ireland. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Sharrock, J.T.R. (2013). The Natural History of Cape Clear Island. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781408137659.