James Hartley Ashworth FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

DSc SZS (2 May 1874 – 4 February 1936) was a British marine zoologist.

Life

See He was born on 2, May 1874, in

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, the only son of James Ashworth. He spent most of his early life in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, attending the Carlton Road School there. He appears to have befriended Dr James MacKenzie during his youth, due to MacKenzie's role as the family GP, and his interest in science was awakened. MacKenzie appears to have had a mentoring role during his teenage years. Ashworth was encouraged to train, and went to Manchester to study Chemistry at

Owen's College The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

. Here he quickly found a new interest and changed to study Zoology. He then moved to London University where he received a BSc with Honours in Zoology and Botany in 1895. In 1899 he received a Doctorate in the same subject. He obtained a post in Naples in Italy where his interests began to focus upon marine biology. In 1901 he became a lecturer in invertebrate zoology at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. In 1905, under his own guidance, the University began a course training for a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Ashworth created the elements focussing upon entomology and parasitology. The course was extended to provide Diplomas in both Public Health and Tropical Veterinary Medicine. In 1909, he was awarded a new chair of Professor of Invertebrate Zoology while Professor James Cossar Ewart continued as the Professor of Vertebrate Zoology. When Ewart retired in 1927 Ashworth succeeded him taking over the overarching chair of Professor of Natural History. With financial help from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

in 1929 he established a major new building on the University's Kings Buildings campus, thereafter known as the Ashworth Laboratories. He died at home on Grange Loan in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 4 February 1936, aged 61.

Recognition

In 1911, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

and in 1917 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 ...

. The RSE awarded him its

Keith Prize The Keith Medal was a prize awarded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy, for a scientific paper published in the society's scientific journals, preference being given to a paper containing a discovery, either in mathema ...

1913-15. From 1923 to 1926, and again 1930 to 1933, he served as Vice President to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and from 1933 until his death in 1936 he served as their General Secretary. The National Portrait Gallery in London hold a print (1931) of Ashworth taken by

Walter Stoneman Walter Ernest Stoneman (6 April 1876 – 14 May 1958) was an English portrait photographer who took many photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. Career as a photographer Stoneman was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 6 ...

. The Ashworth Building in Edinburgh University's

King's Buildings The King's Buildings (colloquially known as just King's or KB) is a campus of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Located in the suburb of Blackford, the site contains most of the schools within the College of Science and Engineering, exc ...

complex is named in his honour.

Family

He married Clara Hough in 1901 shortly before coming to Edinburgh.

Publications

*The Giant Nerve Cells and Fibres of "Halla Parthenopeia" (1909)

References

External links

*http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/1250#/titles {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashworth, James Hartley 1874 births 1936 deaths Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish scientists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh