James Maurice Harrison (13 February 1892 – 4 December 1971) was a British physician and amateur ornithologist. He studied the birds of the Kent region where he lived and took an interest in plumage aberrations and topics with close links to medicine. He also wrote a defence of
George Bristow in the
Hastings Rarities case. His son Jeffery also took an interest in birds.
Harrison was born to Kathleen Elizabeth Lakin and Frederick Angier Harrison who was a director at
St Thomas Hospital. He studied at Malvern and Felsted before going to study medicine at St. Thomas' Hospital. In
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he served as a navy surgeon and rose to the position of Surgeon Lieutenant. He was the sole officer to survive the sinking of ''
Monitor 28'' and received a Distinguished Service Cross for saving a marine. He moved to
Sevenoaks in 1920 as a general practitioner until 1969. He also served as a resident surgeon at Sevenoaks Hospital.
Harrison married Rita Graham Sorley in 1918 and they had a son, Jeffery Graham who also became an ornithologist. Harrison took an interest in birds and painting in his spare time. His first major bird study was on the avifauna of Macedonia. He then made numerous journeys to study birds in Europe and northern Africa. He also collected specimens and used his taxidermist skills to mount them in a home museum which later became the
Harrison Institute
Founded in 1930, the Harrison Institute is a UK charity that specialises in mammal taxonomy and biodiversity studies in the Old World tropics and subtropics, especially southern and southeast Asia, Arabia and eastern Africa.
Mission
The Harriso ...
.
Harrison's books include:
* ''The Birds of Kent'' (1953, in two volumes)
* ''Bristow and the Hastings Rarities Affair'' (1968)
* ''Bird Taxidermy'' (1964)
He also contributed to ''The Ornithologists' Guide'' (1956) and ''A New Dictionary of Birds'' (1964).
References
External links
Harrison Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, James Maurice
1892 births
1971 deaths
British ornithologists