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John Lightfoot FRS
The Reverend John Lightfoot (9 December 1735 – 20 February 1788) was an English parson-naturalist, spending much of his free time as a conchologist and botanist. He was a systematic and effective curator of the private museum of Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland. He is best known for his ''Flora Scotica'' which pioneered the scientific study of the plants and fungi of Scotland. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his scientific work. Life and work Lightfoot was born in Newent, Gloucestershire. His father Stephen Lightfoot was a yeoman farmer.Boulger, George Simonds. DNB, 1885–1900, Volume 33: Lightfoot, John He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. He gained a BA in 1756 and an MA in 1766. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1785. Lightfoot was Rector of Gotham, and the chaplain and librarian for Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland. He was also curate of Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire and then of Uxbridge, Middlesex, a position h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portland Vase
The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support. It is the best known piece of Roman cameo glass and has served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelain makers from about the beginning of the 18th century onwards. It is first recorded in Rome in 1600–1601, and since 1810 has been in the British Museum in London. It was bought by the museum in 1945 (GR 1945,0927.1) and is normally on display in Room 70. The vase measures about high and . It is made of violet-blue glass, and surrounded with a single continuous white glass cameo making two distinct scenes, depicting seven human figures, plus a large snake, and two bearded and horned heads below the handles, marking the break between the scenes. The bottom of the vase was a cameo glass disc, also in blue and white, showing a head, presumed to be of Paris or Priam on the basis of the Phrygian cap it wears. This roundel clearly does not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cowley, London
Cowley is a village contiguous with the town of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. A largely suburban village with 16 listed buildings, Cowley is 15.4 miles (24.8 km) west of Charing Cross, bordered to the west by Uxbridge Moor in the Green Belt and the River Colne, forming the border with Buckinghamshire. Cowley was an ancient parish in the historic county of Middlesex. Toponymy Cowley's name is believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon ''Cofenlea'': "Cofa's woodland clearing." The earliest written record of the settlement is from 959. History Medieval period St. Laurence Church was in recorded as in the parish of Cowley in the 1086 ''Domesday Book'' along with the parish land owned by Westminster Abbey, valued as worth to its lord two pounds per year in 1066 and at one pound ten shillings in 1086. Its independent male householders were two villagers, one cottage-owner with one cultivated ploughland for one lord's plough team. Lord's lands (also re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2021 of 3,107,500 and has a total area of . Wales has over of coastline and is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (), its highest summit. The country lies within the Temperateness, north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was formed as a Kingdom of Wales, kingdom under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055. Wales is regarded as one of the Celtic nations. The Conquest of Wales by Edward I, conquest of Wales by Edward I of England was completed by 1283, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reed Warbler
The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are sometimes called marsh warblers or reed warblers, but this invites confusion with marsh warbler and reed warbler proper, especially in North America, where it is common to use lower case for bird species. These are rather drab brownish warblers usually associated with marshes or other wetlands. Some are streaked, others plain. Many species breeding in temperate regions are migratory. This genus has heavily diversified into many species throughout islands across the tropical Pacific. This in turn has led to many of the resulting insular endemic species to become endangered. Several of these species (including all but one of the species endemic to the Marianas and two endemic to French Polynesia) have already gon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bolton
James Bolton (1735 – 7 January 1799) was an English naturalist, botanist, mycologist, and illustrator. Background James Bolton was born near Warley in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1735, the son of William Bolton, a weaver. James initially followed in his father's trade, but later became a self-taught art teacher and finally a publican in his home village of Warley.Edmondson, J. (1995) New insights into James Bolton of Halifax. ''Mycologist'' 9: 174-178 He married Sarah Blackburn in 1768 and the couple had four children. He and his family lived all their lives in the Halifax area. James and his older brother, Thomas Bolton (1722–1778), were keen naturalists, Thomas having a particular interest in entomology and ornithology. Edward Donovan named the dragonfly '' Cordulegaster boltonii'' after a specimen collected by Thomas Bolton. The two brothers contributed to the natural history section in ''The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax in Yorkshire'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Sibthorpe
John Sibthorpe (1669–1718), of St. Mark's, Lincoln, was an English politician. He was the son of Gervase Sibthorpe of St Mark's and Judith Riggall, daughter of Mark Riggall and widow of Benjamin Marshall, and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of Great Britain for Lincoln from 1713 to 1715, but made very little impact in the House. He was buried on 27 April 1718 at St. Mark's church. He had married in 1703, Mary, the daughter and coheiress of Humphrey Browne of Lincoln and had 4 sons and a daughter. His widow acquired Canwick Hall, near Lincoln, which his son Coningsby Sibthorp, MP for Lincoln for many years and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Lincolnshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilit ... in 1733, would go on to inherit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''. Life White was born on 18 July 1720 in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. His grandfather, also Gilbert White was at that time vicar of Selborne. Gilbert White's parents were John White (1688–1758) a trained barrister and Anne Holt (d. 1740). Gilbert was the eldest of eight surviving siblings, Thomas (b. 1724), Benjamin (b. 1725), Rebecca (b. 1726), John (b. 1727), Francis (b. 1728/29), Anne (b. 1731), and Henry (b. 1733). Gilbert's family lived briefly at Compton, Surrey, before moving into 'The Wakes' in 1728, that was to be his home for the rest of his long life. Gilbert White was educated in Basingstoke by Thomas Warton, father of Joseph Warton and Thomas Warton, who would have been Gilbert's school fellows. There are also suggestion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Edward Smith (botanist)
__NOTOC__ Sir James Edward Smith (2 December 1759 – 17 March 1828) was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Early life and education Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world. During the early 1780s he enrolled in the medical course at the University of Edinburgh where he studied chemistry under Joseph Black and natural history under John Walker. He then moved to London in 1783 to continue his studies. Smith was a friend of Sir Joseph Banks, who was offered the entire collection of books, manuscripts and specimens of the Swedish natural historian and botanist Carl Linnaeus following the death of his son Carolus Linnaeus the Younger. Banks declined the purchase, but Smith bought the collection for the bargain price of £1,000. The collection arrived in London in 1784, and in 1785 Smith was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Academic career Between 1786 and 1788 Smit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Dickson (botanist)
James (Jacobus) J. Dickson (1738–1822) was a Scottish nurseryman, plant collector, botanist and mycologist. Between 1785 and 1801 he published his ''Fasciculus plantarum cryptogamicarum Britanniae'', a four-volume work in which he published over 400 species of algae and fungi that occur in the British Isles''Jacobi Dickson Fasciculus (-fasciculus quartus) plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniæ''. MS. notes. 4 fasc. pl. XII. Prostant venales apud auctorem; G. Nicol: Londini, 1785-1801. 4º. (2 copies in the British Library) He is also the author of ''Collection of Dried Plants, Named on the Authority of the Linnaean Herbarium and Other Original Collections''. The plant genus ''Dicksonia'' is named after him. Life He was born at Kirke House, Traquair, Peeblesshire, of poor parents, and began life in the gardens of the Earl of Traquair. While still young he went to Jeffery's nursery-garden at Brompton, and in 1772 started in business for himself in Covent Garden. Dickson made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hudson (botanist)
William Hudson FRS (1730 in Kendal – 23 May 1793) was a British botanist and apothecary based in London. His main work was ''Flora Anglica'', published in 1762. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1761. Life and work Hudson was born between 1730 and 1732 at the White Lion Inn, Kendal, which was kept by his father. He was educated at Kendal grammar school, Hudson was subsequently apprenticed to an apothecary in London. He obtained the prize for botany given by the Apothecaries' Company which was a copy of Ray's ''Synopsis''. However, he also paid attention to mollusca and insects and in Pennant's '' British Zoology'' he is mentioned as the discoverer of '' Trochus terrestris''. From 1757 to 1768 Hudson was resident sub-librarian of the British Museum, and his studies in the Sloane herbarium enabled him to adapt the Linnean nomenclature to the plants described by Ray far more accurately than did John Hill in his ''Flora Britannica'' of 1760. In 1761 Hudson w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linnaean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collections, and publishes academic journals and books on plant and animal biology. The society also awards a number of prestigious medals and prizes. A product of the 18th-century enlightenment, the Society is the oldest extant biological society in the world and is historically important as the venue for the first public presentation of the theory of evolution by natural selection on 1 July 1858. The patron of the society was Queen Elizabeth II. Honorary members include: King Charles III of Great Britain, Emeritus Emperor Akihito of Japan, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (both of latter have active interests in natural history), and the eminent naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. History Founding The Linnean Society wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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