Sir Everard Ferdinand im Thurn (9 May 1852 – 9 October 1932) was an author, explorer, botanist, photographer and British colonial administrator. He was Governor of Fiji in the years 1904–1910.

Life

Im Thurn was born in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

, London, the son of an Austrian immigrant banker, and educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

, University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Sydney. His first book, dedicated to his headmaster, was a study of ''The Birds of Marlborough'' (1870). After his education, im Thurn travelled to

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

—called

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

since its independence from Great Britain—to become (at the age of 25) Curator of the British Guiana Museum from 1877 until 1882. He later became a Stipendiary Magistrate in Pomeroon. In December 1884 he led the first successful expedition to the summit of

Mount Roraima Mount Roraima ( es, Monte Roraima; Tepuy Roraima; Cerro Roraima pt, Monte Roraima ) is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of tepuis (table-top mountain) or plateaux in South America. It is located at the junction of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. ...

, in Venezuela's Gran Sabana region, along with Harry Perkins, an Assistant Crown Surveyor who was also living in

. He was a keen photographer and author of several works related to his expedition to Roraima, which were published in scientific journals, including: "The Botany of Roraima Expedition of 1884: being notes on the plants observed; with a list of the species collected, and determinations of those that are new" (Linnean Society, 1887), and "Among the Indians of Guiana: being sketches, chiefly anthropologic from the interior of British Guiana, etc.", which includes detailed observations of the Pemon Indians of Venezuela. Im Thurn went on to become a government agent in British Guiana from 1891 to 1899, and was employed on the Venezuelan boundary commission 1897–99, for which he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the

1900 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1900 were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India. The list was published in ''The Times'' on 1 January 1900, and the various honours were gazetted in ''The London ...

list on 1 January 1900 (the order was gazetted on 16 January 1900), and was invested by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 1 March 1900. He then spent a couple of years back in the United Kingdom, holding several positions from 1899 to 1901, including 1st Class Clerk and later Principal Clerk in the Colonial Office. In July 1901 he moved to Ceylon (now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

), where he was appointed Colonial Secretary and Lieutenant-Governor. He ended his colonial career as Governor of Fiji from 1904 to 1910, during which time he was knighted as a

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(KCMG) in the

1905 Birthday Honours The 1905 Birthday Honours for the British Empire were announced on 30 June, to celebrate the birthday of Edward VII on 9 November. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged by honour, w ...

. He was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(KBE) in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

, at which time he was Vice-Chairman of the King George and Queen Mary's Club for Overseas Forces. He was a well-respected figure in the scientific circles of his time. Whilst in Ceylon he served as President of the

Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL) is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is one of the oldest learned societies in Sri Lanka with a history of over 160 years. It was established on 7 February 1845, paralleling the Royal Asiatic Society ...

from 1902 to 1904. He was later elected President of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

1919–1920 and made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. In 1895 he married Hannah C. Lorimer, daughter of Professor James Lorimer, of the University of Edinburgh. In 1921 they moved to live at Cockenzie House in East Lothian, where he died in 1932. In 1886, he was honoured by English botanist Henry Nicholas Ridley, who named a genus of plants from tropical South America after him. The genus of '' Everardia'' (is in the family

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

References

*''This article contains content from the defunct wiki, Hierarchypedia, used here under th
GNU Free Documentation License
'' *Im Thurn, E.F. (1885). ''The Ascent of Mount Roraima''. Proceedings of the Royal Geographic Society VII: 497–521.

External links

*

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurn, Everard Ferdinand Im 1852 births 1932 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Sydney alumni Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford History of Guyana English writers English botanists English explorers Photographers from London High Commissioners for the Western Pacific Governors of Fiji Members of the Legislative Council of Fiji British Guiana people Chief Secretaries of Ceylon Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire English people of Swiss descent Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland