Irish explorer, naturalist, hill-walker, academic and Shakespearean scholar born in Raheny, County Dublin. Henry Chichester Hart came from a landed family and, of independent means, was free to pursue his academic interests from his estate at Carrablagn, Lough Swilly. Having studied at Trinity College he spent the 1880s and 1890s exploring much of Ireland, particularly the mountainous regions, major river basins and more remote coastlines. Publishing accounts of his travels and findings, Hart created a Flora of Howth in 1887. Venturing further afield he was involved in two major expeditions, one to the Arctic in 1875-1876 and the other to Palestine in 1883-1884. Also interested in zoology he was a keen ornithologist.

Hart's most important botanical work, Flora of the County Donegal was unfortunately lost forever when the entirety of his recently published stock was destroyed in a fire; one of many such uncontrolled fires which raged in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916. Although Hart's herbarium is mainly at DBN and his papers at Trinity College, original material from his Arctic and Palaestine expeditions was sent to both BM and K. Most cryptogams from these expeditions appear to be at BM, some having been transferred from K under the terms of the Morton Agreement after 1961.

Sources:
J. Akeroyd, 2004, "Henry Chichester Hart (1847-1908), botanist and polymath", Sherkin Comment, 38:21.