Bertram Evelyn (Bill) Smythies (11 July 1912 (

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

) – 27 June 1999 (Redhill,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

)) was a British forester and

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Life

Bertram 'Bill' Smythies, the elder brother of John Raymond Smythies, was born in

in 1912. His father

E. A. Smythies Evelyn Arthur Smythies, Order of the Indian Empire, CIE (19 March 1885Bateman, Robert. ''Stamp collectors' who's who''. London: Stanley Gibbons, 1960, p. 81. – 10 January 1975), was a distinguished forester and philatelist, born of British pare ...

, was silviculturist of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

(and, in the 1940s, Chief Conservator of Forest of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

), His mother Olive Smythies ''née'' Cripps was the author of ''The Tiger Lady''. After school in the UK, Bill read

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. Bill's grandfather Arthur Smythies (1847- 1934) came to India in 1873 to join the

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...

and served until 1902 around

Dehra Dun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

. Bill's father Evelyn (Arthur's son) had degrees in forestry and geology from Oxford and served in the Indian Forest Service from 1908 to 1940. Evelyn was based in

, where Bill was born in 1912. He wrote: ''... "started hill trekking at the age of six months, camping in tents in the hills of Kumaon... brought up within sight of Nanda Devi and Trisul - who could fail to have a love of mountains and natural history?"'' Bill Smythies' father took up a contract post of Forest Advisor to the Maharaja of Nepal and moved to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

after 1940 and stayed on till 1947. During this time Bill used to visit his father in Nepal and had access to places that were normally out of bounds for foreigners. Bill Smythies joined the Burma Forest Service in 1934. During this time he explored the botany and ornithology of these Burmese regions with his Kachin guide and friend Sumdu Mai. He spoke fluent Burmese, Jingpo,

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

and

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language * Iban people Given name Cycling * Iban Iriondo (born 1984) * Iban Mayo (born 1977) * Iban Mayoz (born 1981) Football * ...

. He was a great fan of the British

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and explorer

Kingdon-Ward Francis Kingdon-Ward, born Francis Kingdon Ward OBE, (6 November 1885 in Manchester – 8 April 1958) was an English botanist, explorer, plant collector and author. He published most of his books as Frank Kingdon-Ward and this hyphenated for ...

. In January 1949 Bill was appointed to the Colonial Forest Service in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

where he spent 15 years. At the age of 52, the day he left Sarawak. in 1964 he married Florence Mary (Jill) Rogers a noted botanical artist. The next fifteen years were spent in the Spanish Sierras, the mountains of Britain, the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

and the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

before moving to England. In 1986, Bill Smythies endowed the

Jill Smythies Award The Jill Smythies Award of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1986 and is awarded annually to a botanical artist. The award was established by Bertram Smythies, in honour of his wife, Florence Mary Smythies ("Jill"), whose career a ...

in honour of his wife whose career as a botanical artist had been cut short by an accident to her right hand. It has been given annually since 1988 by the

Linnean Society of London 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 colle ...

"to a botanical artist in recognition of excellence in published illustrations, such as drawings or paintings, in aid of plant identification, with the emphasis on botanical accuracy and the accurate portrayal of diagnostic characteristics". The entry criteria specifies that the award is for botanical art that it 'an aid to identification and a portrayal of diagnostic characteristics' and excludes "flower paintings that are merely artistic" and "illustrations of cultivars of garden origin." Jill Smythies died in 1994. She was survived by Bill who would die in 1999.

Works

Bill Smythies wrote several major books and papers including: *''The Birds of Burma'' (first published 1940) *''Birds of Borneo'' *''Common Sarawak Trees'' *''Flowers of South-West Europe'' (with

Oleg Polunin Oleg Vladimirovitch Polunin (November 1914 – July 1985) was an English botanist, teacher and traveller. He was one of three sons to the artists Vladimir (born in the Russian Empire) and Elizabeth Polunin. All three sons were interested in the ...

and

Jill Smythies Jill is an English feminine given name, a short form of the name Jillian (Gillian), which in turn originates as a Middle English variant of Juliana (disambiguation), Juliana, the feminine form of the name Julian (given name), Julian. People wit ...

) *''Flowers of Greece'' *''Flora of Spain and the Balearic Islands. Englera 3: 1 – 88 (1984)''

References

General References

*Davison, G.W.H. (1999). B.E. Smythies. (In: Smythies, B.E.; & Davison, G.W.H. The Birds of Borneo. 4th edition. Natural History Publications (Borneo): Kota Kinabalu). * Wright, Belinda.(1999). Obituary: Bertram 'Bill' Smythies. OBC Bulletin 30 (Nov 1999): 7–8.

External links

Birds of Burma (2nd edition)

B.E. (Bill) Smythies, 1912-1999
E.F. Bruenig, ASSOCIATION NEWS'', The International Forestry Review,'' Vol.1, No.3, ''SPECIAL ISSUE: PLANTATIONS'' (1999), pp. 203–204 https://www.jstor.org/stable/42609204 (also in ''Borneo Research Bulletin'' (1999
Volume 30
pp. 7–1

from th
Borneo Research Council

BERTRAM EVELYN SMYTHIES (1912-1999)
obituary by S. L. JURY for the (former) BSBI journal '' Watsonia'' 23: 370-371 (2000)
Jill Smythies - An account and history by Dr. Stephen L. Jury
at the

University of Reading Herbarium The University of Reading Herbarium (RNG) is a herbarium on the University of Reading's Whiteknights Campus Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park ...

website. *"The H. H. Bloomer Awardbr>Mr Bertram Evelyn Smythies
''THE LINNEAN'', (1986 pp. 23 – 24) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smythies British foresters Colonial Forest Service officers Imperial Forestry Service officers 1912 births 1999 deaths British ornithologists Indian foresters Forestry in Myanmar Forestry in Malaysia British people in colonial India People of British Malaya People from Nainital 20th-century British botanists 20th-century British zoologists