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R. C. Barstow was an early colonist, magistrate of Auckland, New Zealand.

Biography
Barstow was born at Skipton Bridge, in North Yorkshire in 1820. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1838 as one of its foundational students, and left London for New Zealand on the Bangalore in 1843.

He arrived on the Bangalore in Auckland on the 23rd of December 1843, along with Governor Robert Fitzroy.

Cheeseman started studying the flora of New Zealand, and in 1872 he published an accurate and comprehensive account of the plant life of the Waitākere Ranges. In 1874, he was appointed Secretary of the Auckland Institute and Curator of the Auckland Museum, which had only recently been founded. For the first three decades, Cheeseman was the only staff member who worked at the museum, other than the museum's janitor. Under his curatorship, the museum's collections were formed. His botanical studies were valuable not just academically, but were of importance to agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. He published papers almost every year until his death.

When Cheeseman's research began, the botany of New Zealand was quite poorly known. Cheeseman made many collecting trips including areas such as the Nelson Provincial District, the Kermadec and Three Kings Islands, and the area from Mangonui to the far north. He sometimes travelled with his friend Mr. J. Adams, of the Thames High School, after whom he named the species Senecio adamsii and Elytranthe adamsii.

Barstow also visited Polynesia, eventually building the schooner 'Undine' to further his travels, which would go on to be bought and used by the Anglican missionary Bishop Selwyn.

Hundreds of bird specimens added to Auckland Museum's collections by Cheeseman were shot by his younger brother, William Joseph, and their labels bear the tag "W.J.C." The museum could not afford a taxidermist, but Cheeseman's sister Emma learnt the skill and prepared many of the specimens. Her initials "E.C." appear.on the backs of many labels. His two other sisters, Ellen, a watercolour painter and botanist, and Clara, a novelist, also accompanied him on field trips.

Cheeseman married Rosetta Keesing, of a notable Jewish family of Auckland city, in November 1889. Together, they had two children: Dorothy (later Dorothy Grant-Taylor) and Guy. Cheeseman died on 15 October 1923. Cheeseman's archives are held at the Auckland Museum.

Barstow was an avid numismatics collector, and donated a large portion of his collection, particularly his ancient coins, to the Auckland Museum in 1878.

Membership
Cheeseman was a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (FLS), and the Zoological Society (FZS). He was made a Corresponding Membership of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, and awarded the Gold Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society, the botanical equivalent to a Nobel Medal, in 1923.

He served as the President of the New Zealand Institute from 1911 to 1913. In 1918, he was awarded the Hector Memorial Medal and Prize, and in 1919 he was made an original Fellow of the New Zealand Institute.