George Robert Waterhouse (6 March 1810 – 21 January 1888) was an English naturalist. He was a keeper at the department of geology and later curator of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

's museum.

Early life

George was born in Somers Town to James Edward Waterhouse and Mary Newman. His father was a solicitor's clerk and an amateur entomologist. He was the brother of

Frederick George Waterhouse Frederick George Waterhouse (25 August 1815 – 7 September 1898) was an English naturalist, zoologist and entomologist who made significant contributions to the study of the natural history of Australia. Waterhouse was born near London, a son ...

, who also became a zoologist. George went to school at Koekelberg, near Brussels. He returned to England in 1824 and worked as an apprentice to an architect. Part of the work was in designing the garden of Charles Knight in the Vale of Health, Hampstead and the ornamentation for St. Dunstan's Church.

Natural history

George became interested in entomology through his father and he founded the Entomological Society of London along with

Frederick William Hope Frederick William Hope (3 January 1797 – 15 April 1862) was an English clergyman, naturalist, collector, and entomologist, who founded a professorship at the University of Oxford to which he gave his entire collections of insects in 1849 (now ...

in 1833 with himself as honorary curator. He became its president in 1849–50. He wrote articles for Knight's ''Penny Cyclopædia.'' The Royal Institution at Liverpool appointed him curator of its museum in 1835 and he exchanged this in 1836 for a position at the

. His early work was on cataloguing the mammals at the museum and although he completed the work the next year, it was not published as he had not followed the

quinary system The quinarian system was a method of zoological classification which was popular in the mid 19th century, especially among British naturalists. It was largely developed by the entomologist William Sharp Macleay in 1819. The system was further pr ...

of that time. He was invited to join

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

on the voyage of the Beagle but he declined it. On Darwin's return, the collection of mammals and beetles was entrusted to him. In November 1843 he became an assistant in the mineralogical department of the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

. He became keeper in 1851 upon the death of

Charles Konig Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig or Karl Dietrich Eberhard König, KH (1774 – 6 September 1851) was a German naturalist. He was born in Brunswick and educated at Göttingen. He came to England at the end of 1800 to organize the collection ...

and held the position until his retirement in 1880. He was married to Elizabeth Ann, daughter of musician G. L. J. Griesbach of Windsor, on 21 December 1834. He died at Putney on 21 January 1888. He had three sons (

Charles Owen Waterhouse Charles Owen Waterhouse (19 June 1843 – 4 February 1917) was an English entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera. He was the eldest son of George Robert Waterhouse. Waterhouse was an Assistant Keeper at the Natural History Museum, Londo ...

, Frederick Herschel Waterhouse, and Edward Alexander Waterhouse), all coleopterists, and three daughters. Waterhouse was the author of ''A natural history of the Mammalia'' (1846–48). The work was begun in 1844 was done slowly as the original French publisher M. Hippolyte Baillière was unable to take it up. The two volumes covered the Marsupials and the rodents. The famous ''Archaeopteryx'' specimen was acquired when he was curator. Amongst the numerous species he described are the

numbat The numbat (''Myrmecobius fasciatus''), also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. The species was once widespread across southern Australia, but ...

(''Myrmecobius fasciatus''), and the Syrian or golden hamster (''

Mesocricetus auratus The golden hamster or Syrian hamster (''Mesocricetus auratus'') is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is in an arid region of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been de ...

''). He also assisted Louis Agassiz with his ''Nomenclator Zoologicus'' (1842).

Publications

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References

External links

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The natural history of marsupialia or pouched animals (1841)
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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900 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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterhouse, George Robert English naturalists English zoologists 01 1810 births 1888 deaths English entomologists 19th-century British geologists English taxonomists 19th-century British zoologists Presidents of the Royal Entomological Society Scientists from London