George Clifton (1823–1913) was an English collector of seaweed specimens, active in Australia. Clifton was born in England, a son of Marshall Waller Clifton, and served in the Royal Navy. He emigrated to Australia in 1851, but returned in 1864, having served as a police officer, to become governor of the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and Dartmoor prisons. He was employed by the state of Western Australia as superintendent of

water police Water police, also called harbor patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables, river police, or maritime law enforcement or coastal police are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organizat ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. Clifton assisted William Henry Harvey's work on

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

of the region, and made use of his boat to make collections in the region. His contribution to Harvey's publication of ''

Phycologia Australica ''Phycologia Australica'', written by William Henry Harvey, is one of the most important works on phycology of the 19th century. (Phycology is the study of algae.) The work, published in five separate volumes between 1858 and 1863, is the result ...

'' is especially noted throughout that work; volume 5 is prefaced with the remarks,

"To George Clifton, Esq., R.N., of Fremantle, Western Australia, whose name occurs so frequently throughout the volume and in the synopsis, I am indebted for some thousands of beautifully preserved specimens, including many species collected by no one else. His contributions commenced in 1854, whilst I was resident in Western Australia, and have been regularly continued at short intervals up to the present time (Sept., .1863). Three new genera, ''Cliftonaea, Bindera, and Encyothalia'', besides many new species, prove the zeal and success with which Mr. Clifton has conducted his researches."

His name is commemorated by Harvey in the epithets of the genus ''Cliftonia'' (later '' Cliftonaea'' a type of Algae, 1863 ), and a new species ''

Dasya cliftoni Saint Dasya the Soldier (also: Daysa the Egyptian), was a Christian martyr of the third century. He was born in Tanda, Egypt, and served as a soldier in the Roman army. Refusing to deny Christ, Dasya was tortured by Arianus, governor of Anse ...

''; his continued supply of material to the author saw Clifton honoured more than any other person in names of Australian algae species. Clifton was known to have corresponded with

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

, but these letters are missing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton, George 1823 births 1913 deaths Botanical collectors active in Australia Plant collectors People from Fremantle