James Sykes Gamble (2 July 1847 – 16 October 1925) was an English
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
who specialized in the flora of the
Indian sub-continent; he became Director of the British
Imperial Forest School at
Dehradun
Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...
, and 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 ...
.
Early life and education
Gamble was born at
Portland Place
Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the Third Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to BBC Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Institute of British A ...
, London, the second son of Harpur Gamble, M.D.,
R.N. and Isabella. He completed his formal education at the
Royal Naval School
The Royal Naval School was an English school that was established in Camberwell, London, in 1833 and then formally constituted by the Royal Naval College Act 1840. It was a charitable institution, established as a boarding school for the sons of ...
,
New Cross
New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...
, before going up to
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he attended
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, studying mathematics, at which he excelled, gaining a First in the Final Schools in 1868. In the same year, he sat for the Indian Civil Service examinations, and gained an appointment in the Indian Forest Department the following year. Gamble later studied at the ''
École nationale des eaux et forêts'',
Nancy (1869-1871) where he gained an interest in taxonomy.
[Obituary: James Sykes Gamble 1847-1925. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London''. pp. xxxviii – xliii. Vol.99, No.699 (1 May 1926).]
Career
Gamble sailed for
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in 1871 to join the
Imperial Forest Department, and ultimately became Director of the Imperial Forest School at Dehradun. His first posting was in Burma but after a year he moved to Bengal where he worked in the Darjeeling forests. Here he produced the first list of the trees and shrubs of Darjeeling. From 1872 to 1877 he worked mostly in the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri area with short visits to Allahabad and Shimla. In 1877 he moved to the capital in Shimla where he worked on the local flora. In 1879 he moved back to Calcutta and travelled around the Sunderbans, Chota Nagpore, Santal Parganas and Orissa regions. He worked along with his colleague
Sulpiz Kurz
Wilhelm Sulpiz Kurz (5 May 1834 – 15 January 1878) was a German botanist and garden director in Bogor, West Java and Kolkata. He worked in India, Indonesia, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation wh ...
at the Calcutta Herbarium and Dr
George King George King may refer to:
Politics
* George King (Australian politician) (1814–1894), New South Wales and Queensland politician
* George King, 3rd Earl of Kingston (1771–1839), Irish nobleman and MP for County Roscommon
* George Clift King (18 ...
. In 1890, Gamble founded the Forest School Herbarium (renamed the
Dehradun Herbarium in 1908). In 1882 he was made Conservator in the Madras Presidency and here he worked in collaboration with W. A. Talbot of the Bombay Presidency. During this time he took an interest in the cultivation of ''Eucalyptus globulus'' in the Nilgiris. In 1890 he moved to the North-West Provinces and became Director of the Forest School in Dehra Dun. He stayed in this post until his retirement in 1899. At Dehra Dun he developed his collections, adding from the Himalayan regions and also receiving specimens from J.F. Duthie and C.G. Rogers. This collection was described by Sir George King in 1899 as "probably the largest collection of plants ever owned in India." After his retirement Gamble also collected at the Cape of Good Hope in 1890 and from Switzerland, Italy, Sardinia, Malta, Gibraltar and South Norway.
He was appointed CIE in the
1899 Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours 1899 were announced on 3 June 1899 in celebration of the birthday of Queen Victoria. The list included appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India.
The list was published in '' ...
After retirement he continued to work on forestry, helping found the Forestry School at Oxford. His collection of nearly 50,000 specimens were gifted to Kew.
Author of several books, his
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
was ''A Manual of Indian Timbers''. He was also the author of many papers on
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
and botanical subjects in the ''
Indian Forester
''The Indian Forester'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in forestry. It is one of the oldest forestry journals still in existence in the world.
It was established in 1875 and is published by the Indian Council of Forestry ...
'', of which he was a founding editor. Another major work was the ''Flora of the Presidency of Madras'' (1915) of which five parts were published during his lifetime and he was working on the seventh at the time of his death. This was a major work and required obtaining specimens from the botanical gardens at Calcutta, the forest herbarium at Travancore, the Agricultural College at Coimbatore and the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh. He also made use of the specimens in the Madras Herbarium at Kew presented by Sir
Alfred Gibbs
Alfred Gibbs (April 22, 1823 – December 26, 1868) was a career officer in the United States Army (Regular Army) who served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Career summary
Gibbs graduated from the Unit ...
and Lady Bourne.
The work was completed by C.E.C. Fischer. It remains a major guide for the region.
Other works
* ''
List of the trees, shrubs and large climbers found in the Darjeeling District, Bengal'', (1st ed. 1877; 1878; 2nd ed. 1896), Bengal.
* ''
A Manual of Indian Timbers'': An Account of the Growth, Distribution and Uses of the Trees and Shrubs of India and Ceylon with Description of Their Wood-Structure. (1881; 1902).
''The Bambuseae of British India'' Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden Calcutta, (1896), 133 pp.]
* ''Flora of the Presidency of Madras'' (1915–21, continued after his death by C.E.C. Fischer)
*
Volume 1 – Ranunculaceae to Caprifoliaceae
*
Volume 2 – Rubiaceae to Euphorbiaceae
*
Volume 3 – Ulmaceae to Gramineae. Addenda, indexes, etc.
Retirement and marriage
Gamble retired to the UK in 1899, settling at Highfield,
Liss (England), Liss, Hampshire, where he planted 72 acres with exotic trees, using many of the seeds he had collected. In 1911, he married Gertrude Latter.
[
]
Death
Gamble died aged 78 on 16 October 1925 at the College Hospital, Haslemere, a few days after a surgery.[
]
Honours
In 1879, botanist C.B.Clarke
Charles Baron Clarke (17 June 1832 – 25 August 1906) was a British botanist. He was born at Andover, Hampshire, Andover, the eldest son of Turner Poulter Clarke. He was educated at King's College School, London, and at Trinity College, Cambrid ...
published ''Gamblea
''Gamblea'' is a genus of plants of the family Araliaceae, comprising four species. It originally comprised a single species, ''Gamblea ciliata'', which is found in India.
The genus's native range stretches from the Himalaya to Japan and Sumatera ...
'', a genus of plants of the family Araliaceae
The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguisha ...
, from Indo-China, and named in Gamble's honour.
In 1899, Gamble was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, his candidature citation describing him as: 'Conservator of Forests, School Circle, NW Provinces, India, and Director of the Imperial Forest School, Dehra Dunn. Fellow of the University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...
, and ''ex officio'' Fellow of the University of Allahabad
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
...'
Notes
NB: Gamble is listed erroneously as J. H. Gamble in some treatises.
References
External links
*
A manual of Indian timbers (1881)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamble, James Sykes
1847 births
1925 deaths
People from Marylebone
Scholars from Dehradun
Botanists with author abbreviations
Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
English botanists
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
French National School of Forestry alumni
Imperial Forestry Service officers
Forestry in India
Forestry academics
History of forestry education
English foresters
Scientists from London