John Berry,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(5 August 1907 – 19 February 2002) was a Scottish zoologist and ecologist. He was the first Director of the Nature Conservancy (UK) for Scotland (1949 to 1967). He was the youngest and longest served Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

during the 20th century.

Life

He was born on 5 August 1907, the son of William Berry of Tayfield, an advocate in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. His father instilled in him a love of nature conservation and especially bird protection. His mother died in his early youth and he was largely raised by aunts. He had

brittle bones Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be m ...

and

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

. John was sent to boarding school, being educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

in England, and then continuing on to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

before receiving a PhD at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

. At Cambridge he shared accommodation (and a love of birds) with

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservation movement, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and Sportsperson, sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Fal ...

, later to become one of Britain's most loved ornithologists. During this time Berry was nicknamed ’’’Gooseberry’’’, due to his love and knowledge of geese. In 1936 he married fellow ornithologist, Bride Fremantle. Upon graduation, Berry first found employment at University College, Dundee, researching the biology of fish, then moved to the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

. Here he came to the attention of Prof

D’Arcy Thompson Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait a ...

and was persuaded to study for a Doctorate at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. In 1936, aged 29 he was elected a Fellow of the

, the youngest Fellow of the 20th century. Having 66 years service in the Society he was also the oldest Fellow and the longest served. In the 1930s he was involved in counter-intelligence work in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was the official Press Censor for Scotland (1940–44). During this same period he was commissioned by the Scottish Hydro-Electricity Board to design the Pitlochry fish ladder to allow migrating salmon to circumnavigate the large dam built there. This included viewing galleries for the public as it was realised this strange feature had strong value as a visitor attraction. In October 1948 he represented the UK at the conference establishing the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

at Fontainbleau in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Berry was established as Head of Nature Conservation in Scotland immediately thereafter, prior to the legal implementation of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act the next year. In 1951 he declared

Beinn Eighe is a mountain massif in the Torridon area of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Lying south of Loch Maree, it forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros: Ruadh-stac Mòr at ...

the first Scottish National Nature Reserve. He went on to designate

Tentsmuir Forest Tentsmuir Forest is in north east Fife, Scotland. Covering some , the forest was originally sand dunes and moorland before acquisition by the Forestry Commission in the 1920s. The forest consists mainly of Scots pine and Corsican pine, and is ...

, Morton Lochs, Loch Leven and the

Cairngorms The Cairngorms () are a mountain range in the eastern Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national parks of Scotland, national park (the Cairn ...

. He also brought about the acquisition of

Rùm Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicisation, anglicised to Rum ( ), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the ...

and St Kilda. In 1969 he was elected Deputy Lieutenant of

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. In 1970 the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters (LLD) and in 1991 the

awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Science. Berry died on 19 February 2002 aged 94. His archives, including papers relating to his work on North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board projects and their environmental impact and several files relating to his work on wildfowl, are held by Archive Services at the

Publications

*’’Wild Geese and Wild Duck of Scotland’’ (1939) with the aid of data from his childhood friends, Mss Baxter and Rintoul

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, John 1907 births 2002 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of St Andrews Deputy lieutenants of Fife Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Dundee People from Newport-on-Tay Scientists with dyslexia British scientists with disabilities 20th-century Scottish zoologists Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire