John Gwyn Jeffreys
FRS (18 January 1809 – 21 January 1885) was a British
conchologist
Conchology () is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includ ...
and
malacologist
Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...
.
Biography
John Gwyn Jeffreys was born on 18 January 1809, at
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, Wales. He was the eldest son of J. Jeffreys of Fynone, Glamorgan.
[ Jeffreys was educated in Swansea at the ]Bishop Gore School
The Bishop Gore School ( cy, Ysgol Esgob Gore) is a secondary school in Swansea in Wales, founded on 14 September 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613–1691), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated in Sketty, close to Singleton Park and Swansea ...
(Swansea Grammar School). From the age of seventeen, he was an apprentice to one of the principal solicitors of Swansea, before going to London, where he qualified as a barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
in 1838.
Jeffreys worked as a solicitor in Swansea until 1856, when he was called to the bar in London. But his greater passion was for conchology
Conchology () is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includ ...
. He was not satisfied simply to form a collection, but was interested in all aspects of the biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
of molluscs
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil sp ...
.
On 2 April 1840 he became 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 ...
. On 21 June that year he married Ann Nevill at Llangennech
Llangennech (()) is a village and community in the area of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales, which covers an area of .
It is governed by Llangennech Community Council and Carmarthenshire County Council. Llangennech is also the name of the count ...
. They had a son[ and four daughters; and were the grandparents of the ]physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
, Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley
Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley (; 23 November 1887 – 10 August 1915) was an English physicist, whose contribution to the science of physics was the justification from physical laws of the previous empirical and chemical concept of the atomic num ...
.
In 1866 Jeffreys retired from the law, and continued a series of dredging
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
operations he started in 1861 aboard the yacht, ''Osprey'', which he later purchased from his brother-in-law. Accompanied by other specialists in marine life
Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. M ...
such as Charles William Peach
Charles William Peach ALS (30 September 1800 – 28 February 1886) was a British naturalist and geologist. He discovered fossils in Cornwall, after it had been stated by the geologists William Conybeare, that there were no fossil-bearing rock ...
(1800–1886), the Reverend Alfred Merle Norman
Alfred Merle Norman (29 August 1831 – 26 October 1918) was an English clergyman and naturalist.
Biography Early life
Norman was born in Exeter, England in 1831. His father was a landowner, surgeon and Deputy-Lieutenant of Somerset. He studied ...
(1831–1918), George Barlee (1794–1861) and Edward Waller (1803–1873), he dredged the seas around the Shetland Islands
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
, the west of Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, 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 ...
and the Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
. He also went on expeditions to Norway.
He went on to take part in several deepsea expeditions as scientific leader – the ''Porcupine'' expeditions in 1869 and 1870, the ''Valorous'' expedition to Greenland in 1875, and the French Travailleur expedition in 1880.
In or shortly after 1866 he moved from London to Ware
Ware may refer to:
People
* Ware (surname)
* William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian
Places Canada
*Fort Ware, British Columbia
United Kingdom
*Ware, Devon
*Ware, Hertfordshire
*Ware, Kent
United States
* Ware, Elmore County, Al ...
in Hertfordshire, where he bought the Greyfriars Priory, and made it a meeting-place for many British and foreign artists.[ He served as Justice of the Peace for Glamorgan, Brecon and Hertfordshire, and was appointed High Sheriff of the latter in 1877.] He was Treasurer of the Linnean Society of London
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 Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
for many years. Jeffreys was also a member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
.
After the death of his wife in 1881, Jeffreys moved to Kensington,[ and he died there 24 January 1885.]
Among the species first scientifically described by Jeffreys are '' Rissoella opalina'' (1848), ''Cima minima
''Cima minima'' is a species of gastropods belonging to the family Cimidae. Their shell is 1.5 mm in height.
The species is found in Southern Europe. They have no eyes. They are hermaphrodites. Due to their small size, they do not have a heart
...
'' (1858), and '' Cheirodonta pallescens'' (1867).
His collection of shells and specimens was bought by William Healey Dall
William Healey Dall (August 21, 1845 – March 27, 1927) was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska. He described many mollusks of the Pacific Northwest of America, and w ...
(1845–1927) for the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
in the United States of America, and was partly donated to the National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
, Washington, D.C.
Bibliography
Jeffreys was the author of a number of books and articles on conchology and the mechanics of sea dredging. Of particular note was ''British Conchology, or an account of the Mollusca which now inhabit the British Isles and the surrounding seas'' (five volumes, 1862 – 1865), illustrated by George Brettingham Sowerby II
George Brettingham Sowerby II (1812 – 26 July 1884) was a British naturalist, illustrator, and conchologist. Together with his father, George Brettingham Sowerby I, he published the ''Thesaurus Conchyliorum'' and other illustrated works o ...
. A complete list of scientific papers by John Gwyn Jeffreys including reviews is online her
References
* (1885). John Gwyn Jeffreys, Obituary
''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London'' 38: xiv–xviii
* Parts of this article were translated from the French Wikipedia
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffreys, John Gwyn
People educated at Bishop Gore School
Conchologists
Welsh barristers
People from Swansea
1809 births
1885 deaths
British malacologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Geological Society of London
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
High Sheriffs of Hertfordshire