Henry Horrocks Slater (1851–26 November 1934) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

parson-naturalist A parson-naturalist was a cleric (a "parson", strictly defined as a country priest who held the living of a parish, but the term is generally extended to other clergy), who often saw the study of natural science as an extension of his religious wor ...

who studied

ornithology 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 ...

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

, and

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 ...

Early life and clerical career

Slater was born in Stanhope,

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, the son of the priest Henry Slater and his wife Mary Sarah Horrocks. He was matriculated at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

in 1870, and graduated as a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1880 (made

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1887). In 1879 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. In 1881 he was ordained as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. From 1879 to 1882 he was chaplain in

Sharow Sharow is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate (borough), Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about north-east of Ripon. The name Sharow derives from the Old English of 'Scearu' and 'Hōh' which translates as boundary ...

, near Ripon, and from 1882 to 1883 he was chaplain in

Chearsley Chearsley is a village and civil parish within the Buckinghamshire district in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated about seven miles south west of Aylesbury, and about four miles north of Thame, in Oxfordshire. Histo ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. From 1883 to 1893 he was vicar of Irchester. From 1893 to 1906 he was rector of

Thornhaugh Thornhaugh is a civil parish and village in the city of Peterborough unitary authority, Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. For electoral purposes it forms part of Glinton and Wittering ward in North West Cambridgeshire constituency. Thornh ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. He retired at

Bishops Lydeard Bishops Lydeard () is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, north-west of Taunton in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard, Terhill, and East Bagborough, and had a ...

and died there in 1934.

Natural history work

In 1874 he accompanied the botanist

Isaac Bayley Balfour Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, KBE, FRS, FRSE (31 March 1853 – 30 November 1922) was a Scottish botanist. He was Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow from 1879 to 1885, Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxfor ...

and

George Gulliver George Gulliver (4 June 1804 – 17 November 1882), was an English anatomist and physiologist. Life and work Gulliver was born at Banbury, Oxfordshire, on 4 June 1804, and after an apprenticeship with local surgeons entered at St. Bartholomew's ...

aboard HMS ''Shearwater'' on an expedition to observe the

transit of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...

on Rodrigues. In addition to studies of the flora and fauna, Slater excavated the subfossil bones of extinct birds, including the

Rodrigues solitaire The Rodrigues solitaire (''Pezophaps solitaria'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Genetically within the family of pigeons and doves, it was most closely relate ...

(''Pezophaps solitaria'') and Rodrigues starling (''Necropsar rodericanus''). His records were used by the zoologists

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive re ...

and Alfred Newton to write the first scientific description of the Rodrigues starling in 1879. During a stay in Mauritius in 1875 he and George Gulliver explored the flora, the herpetofauna, and the aquatic avifauna. In 1885 he traveled with Thomas Carter to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. In 1897 Slater described the short-tailed parrotbill (''Paradoxornis davidianus'') and the

sulphur-breasted warbler The sulphur-breasted warbler (''Phylloscopus ricketti'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. It breeds in China; it winters to Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. Its natural habitats are temperate forest A forest is ...

(''Phylloscopus ricketti''). Together with

William Bernhardt Tegetmeier William Bernhardt Tegetmeier FZS (4 November 1816 – 19 November 1912) was an English naturalist, a founding member of the Savage Club, a popular writer and journalist of domestic science. A correspondent and friend of Charles Darwin, Tegetme ...

he wrote the fifth volume of ''British Birds With Their Nests and Eggs'' (1898), that was illustrated by

Frederick William Frohawk Frederick William Frohawk (16 July 1861 – 10 December 1946) was an English zoological artist and lepidopterist. Frohawk was the author of ''Natural History of British Butterflies'' (1914), ''The Complete Book of British Butterflies'' (1934) ...

. He visited Iceland three times and wrote the ''Manual of the Birds of Iceland'', published in 1901. Slater was elected a

Fellow 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 ...

(FZS) in December 1877. He was also a Member of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...

(MBOU) since 1882, but he resigned from both organizations in 1906, when he left Thornhaugh.

Bibliography

* second part
an
third part
/ref> * * (in six volumes; Slater wrote the chapter on the Order Limicolæ in vol. 5). *

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Henry Horrocks 1851 births 1934 deaths English naturalists English ornithologists People from Stanhope, County Durham 19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge People from Irchester People from Northamptonshire (before 1974)