DICK HENDRY

Dick Hendry

Richard Hendry, known to most as Dick, was born in Dawlish, Devon, in May 1942 and spent periods of his childhood in South Harrow, London and then Penzance in Cornwall.

He gained a degree in Zoology from Leicester University which fostered an interest in taxidermy and led him to apply for and be awarded the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Taxidermy Training Trust Fund Award.  From this auspicious beginning, Dick became a trainee at The Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh with training periods in Bern, Switzerland and Bonn, Germany and a return to Leicester to the museum for specialised training.

After finishing his basic training term and having been in Edinburgh for 4 years, Dick became a taxidermist for Leicester Museum, holding this post for 7 months before returning to Edinburgh and the Royal Scottish Museum, now known as the National Museum of Scotland.  Remaining in that establishment for 7 years, a move west to Glasgow to work in Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery resulted in a 25 year period as Senior Taxidermist and then as Natural History Conservator.  The creation of many displays and his involvement in the whole re-display of this museum after total refurbishment from 2003 to 2006 provided Dick with many opportunities for intensive research and field trips.  Dick's early retiral from Kelvingore, aged 55, launched his second career when he and a colleague created an educational and exhibition resource company, 'ExEd', which provided services for science and educational centres.  After a 10 year period in this role, Dick decided to fully retire at the age of 65.

It was during a period of study at Leicester University that Dick met Mae who became his wife of over 50 years and they had two children, Claire and Matthew.  Dick was gregarious with a genuine interest in people; he made friends easily and was a very loyal and supportive friend to have.  He was an active member of sports clubs and participated in many interests with Mae including sailing, full and half marathons, hill walking and Munro-bagging, conquering all 200+ of them, together.  In retiral, Dick joined a series of meetup groups where he was able to discuss philosophy and science with people of similar interests ... cerebral activity to pair with physical and sports activities.

Dick's legacy to the Guild was his involvement in setting it up in 1976, the first official body to raise and maintain the standards of taxidermy in Britain.  Instrumental with others in the creation of this official association, Dick held the positions of Chairman and also Editor.

A gentleman and a gentle man, Dick died on 28 June 2015, survived by Mae, Claire and Matthew.

Above is cribbed from Dick's obituary in volume 38 of the Guild's Journal.