Henry John Carter, FRS (18 August 1813 – 4 May 1895) was a surgeon working in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, India, who carried out work in

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

, paleontology, and

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

. He worked as an army surgeon in Bombay from 1859 on Her Majesty's Indian Service, Bombay Establishment. He edited a collection of geological papers on

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union te ...

, including a summary of the

geology of India The geology of India is diverse. Different regions of India contain rocks belonging to different geologic periods, dating as far back as the Eoarchean Era. Some of the rocks are very deformed and altered. Other deposits include recently ...

, which was published in 1857. Many items of his published work appeared in the journal of the Bombay Branch of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

, and in the Annals of Natural History. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1859.

Life and work

Carter joined the Devon and Exeter Hospital at the age of sixteen, and graduated from

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

in 1837 and obtained admission to the College of Surgeons in 1838. He was house surgeon for a year and then conservator of the museum. He visited Ecole de Medecine in Paris in 1840 and joined the East India Company in 1841. He served in Calcutta, Madras and Mauritius. He saw action at the battle of Hyderabad in Sindh on March 24, 1843 under Sir Charles Napier. He served with the 21st regiment of foot in the desert where he suffered ill health. He served on the survey ship ''Palinurus'' from 1844 to 1846 when he became an assistant civil surgeon at Bombay. He served as an honorary secretary at the Medical and Physical Society and at the Royal Asiatic Society. He worked on the geology and paleontology of western India, founding a natural history society in 1856 that did not live very long. Carter retired to England in 1862 with the rank of Surgeon-Major and settled in his native place, Budleigh Salterton where he then married Anne Doyle from Sligo, Ireland in 1864 and they had a daughter Annie in 1866. On 4 October 1888 he suffered from a paralytic attack which impaired his speech and eyesight. In the spring of 1895 his health declined seriously, and he died on the evening of 4 May. He is buried at East Budleigh.

Awards

Carter took a special interest in sponges under J.E. Gray at the Natural History Museum. He was awarded the Royal Society's

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

in 1872 for ''"...his long continued and valuable researches in zoology, and more especially for his inquiries into the natural history of the Spongiadae."'' A number of taxa are named after him including: * ''Acanthella carteri'' Dendy, 1889 * ''Carterella'' Potts, 1881 * ''Carteria'' Gray, 1872 - also ''

Carteria ''Carteria'' is a genus of green algae in the family Chlamydomonadaceae. ''Carteria'' are distinguished from ''Chlamydomonas'' by having four, rather than two, flagella at the vegetative stage. The genus name of ''Carteria'' is in honour of He ...

'' Diesing, 1866 lga* ''Carterias'' Schwartschevski, 1905 * ''Carteriospongia'' Hyatt, 1877 * ''Chondropsis carteri'' Dendy, 1895 * ''Clathria carteri'' Topsent, 1889 * ''Coelocarteria'' Burton, 1934 * ''Echinoclathria carteri'' Rildey & Dendy, 1886 * ''Ecionemia carteri'' Dendy, 1905 * ''Erylus carteri'' Sollas, 1888 * ''Forcepia carteri'' Dendy, 1896 * ''Geodia carteri'' Sollas, 1888 * ''Haliclona carteri'' Burton, 1959 * ''Hamacantha carteri'' Topsent, 1904 * ''Leucandra carteri'' Dendy, 1892 * ''Pericharax carteri'' Polejaeff, 1883 * '' Pristurus carteri'' (

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 ...

, 1863) Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Carter", p. 49). * ''Pronax carteri'' Dendy, 1897 * ''Pseudoesperia carteri'' Deny & Frederick, 1924 * ''Spongia carteri'' Burton, 1930 * ''Spongilla carteri'' Bowerbank, 1858 * ''Stellettinopsis carteri'' Ridley, 1884 * ''Sycon carteri'' Dendy, 1892 * ''Thorecta carteri'' Lendenfeld, 1889 * ''Vioa carteri'' Ridley, 1881 * ''Axinella carteri'' (Dendy)

References

Sources

Entry for Henry John Carter
in the Royal Society's Library and Archive catalogue's details of Fellows (accessed 24 April 2008) *Downes, Michael (2013) The Scientist in the Cottage : Henry John Carter FRS (1813-1895). Primrose Publications. 40pp. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Henry John 1813 births 1895 deaths British surgeons British geologists British zoologists Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Medal winners Spongiologists