Henry James Wilson Scherren (10 February 1843 – 25 April 1911), usually known as Henry Scherren or in encyclopaedia articles as H. Sc. was the author of various books on natural history for adults and children, with notable illustrations including some in colour, and a contributor to the
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
on natural history topics. He was 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 ...
, of which he wrote a magnificent but inaccurate history.
Life
![Punchzool](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Punchzool.jpg)
Scherren's family came from
Weymouth in Dorset. The son of a bookseller and printer, he became a compositor and moved to London. After being educated at the new St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary College started by the
Mill Hill Missionaries
The Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM), officially known as the Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill ( la, Societas Missionariorum S. Ioseph de Mill Hill), is a Catholic society of apostolic life founded in 1866 by Herbert Alfred Vaughan, MH ...
, he joined the Catholic
Carthusian
The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...
monastic order in France. However, he abandoned the order in his mid-thirties to return to secular life, going on to work on the editorial staff of
Messrs. Cassell & Co. in London for two decades. In the mid-1890s he moved, with his wife Anna, into a three-storey terraced house (9, Cavendish Road) in the newly built South
Harringay
Harringay (pronounced ) is a district of north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the New River, where it crosses Green Lanes by Finsbury Park, and Duckett's ...
estate in north London, living there for the rest of his life.
![Popular Natural History by Henry Scherren 1906 cover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Popular_Natural_History_by_Henry_Scherren_1906_cover.jpg)
Scherren assisted
Robert Hunter with his 7-volume ''
Encyclopedic Dictionary
An encyclopedic dictionary typically includes many short listings, arranged alphabetically, and discussing a wide range of topics. Encyclopedic dictionaries can be general, containing articles on topics in many different fields; or they can sp ...
'' (1879–88). In 1891 he wrote to ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' about a finding of a rare "
hydrozoon", ''Cordylophora lacustris''. He collected insect specimens which he shared with other naturalists.
Scherren was 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 ...
. He was Assistant Natural History Editor of ''
The Field''. He was the author of several books on natural history for both adults and children, including ''Popular History of Animals for Young People'' and ''Ponds and Rock Pools''.
He contributed various articles on hybrid animals including Bears, and wrote energetically about hybrids such as the
Pumapard
A pumapard is a hybrid of a cougar and a leopard. Both male cougar with female leopard and male leopard with female cougar pairings have produced offspring. In general, these hybrids have exhibited a tendency to dwarfism.
Characteristics
W ...
.
In 1905, Scherren published his history of the Zoological Society of London. It began:
Scherren's history of the ZSL was criticised as inaccurate by John Bastin:
Scherren contributed to several natural history articles for the
1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (where he is recorded by his initials "H. Sc."), including 'Platypus'.
Works
![Fishes from Popular Natural History by Henry Scherren](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Fishes_from_Popular_Natural_History_by_Henry_Scherren.jpg)
*
Robert Hunter, Henry Scherren, and John Williams. ''The Encyclopædic Dictionary''. 7 volumes. Cassell. 1879–1888.
* Henry Scherren.
Ponds and Rock Pools, with hints on collecting for and the management of the micro-aquarium'. The Religious Tract Society. 1894.
* Henry Scherren.
Popular History of Animals for Young People, with 13 coloured plates and numerous illustrations in the text'. Cassell. 1895. (Republished as ''Popular Natural History, etc.'' 1906, 1913
* Henry Scherren. ''Through a Pocket Lens''. The Religious Tract Society. 1897.
* Henry Scherren. ''Walks and Talks in the Zoo''. The Religious Tract Society. 1900.
* Henry Scherren. ''A Short History of the Zoological Society of London''. The Zoological Society. 1901.
* Henry Scherren. ''Popular Natural History of the Lower Animals (Invertebrates)''. The Religious Tract Society. 1903.
* Henry Scherren.
The Zoological Society of London : a sketch of its foundation and development, and the story of its farm, museum, gardens, menagerie and library'' Cassell, 1905.
* Platypus (''in part''). Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911.
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See also
* Cleaning symbiosis
Cleaning symbiosis is a mutually beneficial association between individuals of two species, where one (the cleaner) removes and eats parasites and other materials from the surface of the other (the client). Cleaning symbiosis is well-known amon ...
* Congolese Spotted Lion
* Pumapard
A pumapard is a hybrid of a cougar and a leopard. Both male cougar with female leopard and male leopard with female cougar pairings have produced offspring. In general, these hybrids have exhibited a tendency to dwarfism.
Characteristics
W ...
(quoting Scherren from ''The Field'' No 2887, 25 April 1908)
References
External links
'Through a Pocket Lens' by Henry Scherren 1897: a book review ... 100 years later
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scherren, Henry
British naturalists
British editors
British male journalists
British encyclopedists
1843 births
1911 deaths
People from Harringay