Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and

ornithologist 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 ...

. As a

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 ...

he was an early supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution and creation.

Biography

He was the son of the Rev. Henry Baker Tristram, born at

Eglingham Eglingham is a village in Northumberland, England, situated about north-west of Alnwick and from Wooler. It lies in the sheltered valley of the Eglingham Burn, a tributary of the River Aln, about above sea level, in a rural conservation area ...

vicarage, near

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

, Northumberland. He studied at

Durham School Durham School is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Durham, North East England and was an all-boys institution until 1985, when girls were admitted to the sixth form. The school takes pupils ...

and

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

. In 1846 he was ordained a priest.

Diplomatic, scientific and missionary work

Tristram was secretary to the governor of

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

from 1847 to 1849. He explored the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

desert, and in 1858 visited

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, returning there in 1863 and 1872, and dividing his time between natural history observations and identifying localities mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. In 1873 he became canon of

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

. In 1881 he travelled again to Palestine, the

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

, and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. He also made a voyage to Japan to visit his daughter, Katherine Alice Salvin Tristram, who was a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

and teacher in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. In 1858, he read the simultaneously-published papers by

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 ...

and

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

that were read in the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

, and published a paper in

Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

stating that given the "series of about 100 Larks of various species before me... I cannot help feeling convinced of the views set forth by Messrs Darwin and Wallace." He attempted to reconcile this early acceptance of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

with creation. Following the famous Oxford Debate between

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The storie ...

and

Samuel Wilberforce Samuel Wilberforce, FRS (7 September 1805 – 19 July 1873) was an English bishop in the Church of England, and the third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his day.Natural Hi ...

, Tristram, after early acceptance of the theory, rejected Darwinism. Tristram was a founder and original member of the British Ornithologists' Union, and appointed 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 1868.

Edward Bartlett Edward Bartlett (1836 – April 1908) was an English ornithologist and herpetologist. He was the son of Abraham Dee Bartlett. Bartlett accompanied Henry Baker Tristram to Palestine in 1863–64, and collected in the Amazon basin and Peru in 1 ...

, an English ornithologist and son of

Abraham Dee Bartlett Abraham Dee Bartlett (27 October 1812 – 7 May 1897) was a British taxidermist and an expert on captive animals. A superintendent of the London Zoo, he was a prominent observer of animal life and a zoologist who became a popular authority on wi ...

, accompanied Tristram to Palestine in 1863–1864. During his travels he accumulated an extensive collection of bird skins, which he sold to the

World Museum Liverpool 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 ...

Published works

Tristram's publications included
''The Great Sahara''
(1860) *''The Land of Israel, a Journal of Travels in Palestine, Undertaken with Special Reference to Its Physical Character'' (1865) *''The Natural History of the Bible'' (1867)
10th edition (1911)
*''Scenes in the East'' (1870) *''The Daughters of Syria'' (1872) *''Land of Moab'' (1874) *''Pathways of Palestine'' (1882) *''The Fauna and Flora of Palestine'' (1884) *
''The Survey of Western Palestine: The Fauna and Flora of Palestine''
(1884) *''Eastern Customs in Bible Lands'' (1894) and ''Rambles in Japan'' (1895)

Legacy

A number of birds were named after him, including

Tristram's starling Tristram's starling (''Onychognathus tristramii'') or Tristram's grackle, is a species of starling native to the Middle East. Its territory is in the areas of Israel, Jordan, northeastern Egypt (Sinai Peninsula), western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and ...

(also called Tristram's grackle),

Tristram's warbler Tristram's warbler (''Curruca deserticola'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Sylviidae. It is found in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. Its natural habitat is subtropical dry shrubland. The speci ...

Tristram's woodpecker Tristram's woodpecker (''Dryocopus javensis richardsi'') (, Japanese: ) is a Korean subspecies of the white-bellied woodpecker. It was firstly identified and described by English scholar and ornithologist Henry Baker Tristram in 1879. Descript ...

, Tristram's serin, and Tristram's storm-petrel. He also lent his name to the gerbil ''

Meriones tristrami Tristram's jird (''Meriones tristrami'') is a species of rodent that lives in the Middle East. It is named after the Reverend Henry Baker Tristram who collected the first specimens. It is up to long, and lives in burrows in steppes and semi-dese ...

'' (also called Tristram's jird). He is also commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, '' Acanthodactylus tristrami''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Tristram", p. 268).

References

External links

* 1865:
The land of Israel: Travels in Palestine
'. * 1873:
The land of Moab; travels and discoveries on the east side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tristram, Henry Baker 1822 births 1906 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford English ornithologists English travel writers Fellows of the Royal Society Holy Land travellers Palestinologists Parson-naturalists People educated at Durham School People from Alnwick Theistic evolutionists Zoological collectors Natural history of Palestine (region)