George Thomas Bettany (30 March 1850 – 2 December 1891) was an English biologist, anthropologist, and author of scientific and popular works. Born in

Penzance, Cornwall Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

, the son of George Bettany, a schoolmaster and journalist. Bettany was educated privately and then from 1868 to 1870 at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

. On 1 October 1870 he matriculated at

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, where he graduated B.A. 1874 and M.A. 1877. He lectured for some years on biology at Girton and Newnham Colleges, Cambridge, and was lecturer on botany at Guy's Hospital from 1877 to 1886. He edited Ward, Lock, and Co.'s "Science Primers for the People," and the "Popular Library for Literary Treasures," and "The Minerva Library of Famous Books," and occupied the position of English editor of ''

Lippincott's Monthly Magazine ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' was a 19th-century literary magazine published in Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915, when it relocated to New York to become ''Robert M. McBride, McBride's Magazine''. It merged with ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1916. ...

''. He wrote several books and contributed articles to the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', '' The Athenaeum'', and other journals. He became a Fellow of the

Linnean 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 colle ...

in 1880, but, according to the proceedings of the Linnean Society (25 May 1891), Bettany withdrew from the Society before his death. He married writer Mary Jean Gwynne on 1 August 1878, with whom he had a son, George Kernahan Gwynne Bettany. G. T. Bettany died in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

, and his widow married the writer Coulson Kernahan.

Selected publications

* * * * * * * *with

Samuel Wilks Sir Samuel Wilks, 1st Baronet, (2 June 1824 – 8 November 1911) was a British physician and biographer. Early life Samuel Wilks was born on 2 June 1824 in Camberwell, London, the second son of Joseph Barber Wilks, a cashier at the East India H ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bettany, George Thomas 1850 births 1891 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British biologists British anthropologists British science writers