James Mangles (1786 – 18 November 1867) was an officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, naturalist, horticulturalist and writer. He served during the

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, rising to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In the post-war period, with his brothers Robert and George, who shared his interests in horticulture, botany and plant collection, James was actively involved in the botanical, horticultural and commercial life of early colonial

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Life

Mangles was the son of John Mangles (1760–1837), brother of James Mangles (1762–1838), the Member of Parliament. He entered the navy in March 1800, on board the frigate , with Captain

Ross Donnelly Admiral Sir Ross Donnelly, KCB (1764 – 30 September 1840) was an Irish Royal Navy officer who is known for his service during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars. He was first lieutenant on HM ...

, whom in 1801 he followed to . After active service on the coast of France, at the reduction of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, and at the

British invasions of the Río de la Plata The British invasions of the River Plate were two unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of areas in the Spanish colony of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that were located around the Río de la Plata in South America – in p ...

, he was, on 24 September 1806, promoted to be lieutenant of , in which, in February 1809, he was present at the reduction of Martinique. In 1811 Mangles was appointed to , and in 1812 to ,

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

of Sir Harry Burrard Neale. In 1814 he was first lieutenant of , flagship of Sir John Beresford in his voyage to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. He was sent home in acting command of the sloop, and was confirmed in the rank of captain on 13 June 1815. This was his last service afloat. In 1816 Mangles left England, with his old messmate in the ''Narcissus'', Captain

Charles Leonard Irby Charles Leonard Irby (9 October 1789 – 3 December 1845) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. He undertook a tour of Europe and the Middle East between 1816 and 1818. Early life ...

, on what proved to be a lengthy tour in Europe, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. They travelled with

William John Bankes William John Bankes (11 December 1786 – 15 April 1855) was an English politician, explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer. The second, but first surviving, son of Henry Bankes MP, he was a member of the Bankes family of Dorset and he had Sir Ch ...

and Thomas Legh. Mangles was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1825, and in 1830 was co-founder and one of the first fellows and members of council of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. In 1831 Mangles visited the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

in Australia. His cousin Ellen Stirling (née Mangles) was wife of

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

James Stirling. On his return Mangles went into business with his brother Robert, and commissioned James Drummond to collect seeds, plants and herbarium specimens, which they sold to nurserymen. Mangles corresponded with several members of the

regarding matters of a botanical nature. The colonists included

Georgiana Molloy Georgiana Molloy (23 May 1805 – 8 April 1843) was an early settler in Western Australia, who is remembered as one of the first botanical collectors in the colony. Her husband, John, was involved in the Wonnerup massacre, and she has been the ...

George Fletcher Moore George Fletcher Moore (10 December 1798 – 30 December 1886) was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one fthe key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite" (Cameron, 2000). He conducted a number of exploring ...

, Captain

Richard Goldsmith Meares Richard Goldsmith Meares (1780-1862) was an early landholder and public official at the Swan River Colony in Western Australia. Early life Richard, born April 1780, was the son of William Meares of Killinboy, County Westmeath, and Elizabeth Goldsm ...

, Ellen Stirling, James Drummond, Henry Mortlock Ommanney, and Sir Richard Spencer. The names of several Western Australian plants honour members of the Mangles family, including the floral emblem of the State of Western Australia,

Anigozanthos manglesii ''Anigozanthos manglesii'', commonly known as the red-and-green kangaroo paw, Mangles' kangaroo paw, Kurulbrang (Noongar), is a plant species endemic to Western Australia, and the floral emblem of that state. The flower has become symbolic of ...

(the red and green or Mangles kangaroo paw), named for Robert, who grew the specimen from seed in his English garden; and '' Melaleuca manglesii'', ''

Grevillea manglesii ''Grevillea manglesii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to an area around Perth in Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with divided leaves, with triangular or linear lobes, and clusters of cream-col ...

'', ''

Rhodanthe manglesii ''Rhodanthe manglesii'' is a herbaceous plant, a native of Western Australia, that was introduced and cultivated in England in 1834 from seeds collected by James Mangles. Common names for this daisy include pink sunray, silver bells, Australian ...

'' and '' Ptilotus manglesii'' (pom poms), named for James. Mangles died at Fairfield,

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, on 18 November 1867, aged 81.

Works

The letters of Irby and Mangles were privately printed in 1823, and were published as a volume of

John Murray III John Murray III (1808–1892) was a British publisher, third of the name at the John Murray company founded in London in 1777. Life The eldest son of John Murray II (1778–1843) by Anne Elliott, daughter of Charles Elliot, the Edinburgh publis ...

's ''

Home and Colonial Library The ''Home and Colonial Library'' was a series of works published in London from 1843 to 1849, comprising 49 titles, by John Murray III. He founded it, as a series of cheap reprints, original works and translations, slanted towards travel literatur ...

'' in 1844. Mangles was also the author of: * ''The Floral Calendar'', 1839, a short work on window and town gardening; * ''Synopsis of a Complete Dictionary ... of the Illustrated Geographically and Hydrography of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland'', 1848; * ''Papers and Despatches relating to the Arctic Searching Expeditions of 1850-1-2'', 1852; and * ''The Thames Estuary, a Guide to the Navigation of the Thames Mouth'', 1853.

Notes

External links

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Index
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Mangles, James 1786 births 1867 deaths Royal Navy officers Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society English writers Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars English male writers