Henry Hugh Higgins (1814–1893) was an English botanist, bryologist,

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, curator and clergyman. He is cited as an authority in scientific classification, as Higgins.

Life

He was the second son of John Higgins of Turvey Abbey,

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, the younger brother of

Charles Longuet Higgins Charles Longuet Higgins (1806–1885) was an English landowner, physician and benefactor. Family background Turvey Abbey in Bedfordshire came into the Higgins family around 1787, when Charles Higgins, who served as Sheriff of London, bought the ...

. He was educated at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

, graduating B.A. in 1836, M.A. in 1842. Higgins was inspector of the National Schools in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

from 1842 to 1848 and chaplain to the Rainhill Asylum, also in Liverpool. In 1848 he travelled in Egypt, Sinai and Palestine, with his brother Charles. He was president of the Liverpool Field Naturalists' Club from 1861 to 1881. He especially worked on the Ravenhead collections, almost wholly made up of

Upper Carboniferous Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those ...

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

, fish,

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

s and insect remains. Higgins had suggested that Ravenhead donate his collections to the

Liverpool Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

and the donation gained a home with the construction of the railway in 1870, which exposed two Carboniferous seams known as the Upper and Lower Ravenhead. Most of Liverpool Museum's collections survived the Liverpool Blitz of May 1941 which practically destroyed the Museum itself, but the entire Ravenhead collection was lost in the fire.

Selected publications

* 1882. ''The Turvey ammonite: a paper read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, October 16, 1882''. 8 pp. * 1890. ''What is religion?.

Books

* 1858. ''... Synopsis and list of British Hymenomycetes, arranged according to the epicrisis of M. Fries''. Ed. H. Greenwood. 54 pp. * 1858. ''The Fungi of Liverpool and its vicinity...'' Ed. H. Greenwood. 81 pp. * 1859. ''... Synopsis and list of British Gastromycetes''. 122 pp. * henry hugh Higgins, joseph Henry. 1872. ''On vitality''. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 388 pp. * 1874. ''Synopsis of an arrangement of invertebrate animals in the Free public museum of Liverpool: with introduction''. Issue 28 of the Proceedings of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Liverpool. Ed. D. Marples. 104 pp. Republished by General Books LLC, in 2010, 72 pp. * 1877. ''Notes by a field-naturalist in the western tropics: from a journal kept on board the Royal Mersey steam yacht "Argo"''. Ed. E. Howell. 205 pp. Republished by BiblioLife, in 2010, 252 pp.

Eponyms

Genera

* (Heteroxyidae) ''

Higginsia ''Higginsia'' is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the order Axinellida Axinellida is an order of demosponges in the subclass Heteroscleromorpha Heteroscleromorpha is a subclass of demosponges within the phylum Porifera Sponges, t ...

'' Higgin

Species

* (Hookeriaceae) ''Hookeria higginsii'' Besch. ex Higgins * (Dictyoneuridae) ''Dictyoneura higginsi'' Handlirsch * ( Pristidae) ''Myriosteon higginsi''

Gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1864(2): 163-166. 1864
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Family

Higgins married Anne Gouthwaite, daughter of John Topper Gouthwaite, in 1852. They had three sons and four daughters.

References

"Henry Hugh Higgins"
International Index of Plant Names (IPNI), Kew Gardens, Herbarium of the University of Harvard and National Herbarium of Australia (eds.) * Henry Hugh Higgins on WikiSpecies

Sources

* alan j. Bowden, wendy Simkiss. ''Henry Hugh Higgins and Frederick Price Marrat: the reluctant palaeobotanists and the Ravenhead collections''. In the Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 114, 327-338 * w. Simkiss, a.j. Bowden. ''Palaeobotanical studies and collecting in the 19th century, with particular reference to the Ravenhead collection and Henry Hugh Higgins''. In Bowden, A.J., Burek, C.V. & Wilding, R. (eds) 2005. History of Palaeobotany: Selected Essays. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 241, 111-126 {{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins English botanists English curators 19th-century Church of England clergy English geologists Botanists with author abbreviations Scientists from Liverpool 1814 births 1893 deaths Bryologists