Sir John Richardson
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 ...
(5 November 1787 – 5 June 1865) was a
Scottish naval surgeon
A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail.
Ancient uses
Speciali ...
,
naturalist and
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
.
Life
Richardson was born at Nith Place in
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
the son of Gabriel Richardson, Provost of Dumfries, and his wife, Anne Mundell. He was educated at Dumfries Grammar School. He was then apprenticed to his maternal uncle, Dr James Mundell, a surgeon in Dumfries.
He studied
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
at
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
, and became a surgeon in the navy in 1807. He traveled with
John Franklin
Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through ...
in search of the
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...
on the
Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822
The Coppermine expedition of 1819–1822 was a British overland undertaking to survey and chart the area from Hudson Bay to the north coast of Canada, eastwards from the mouth of the Coppermine River. The expedition was organised by the Royal Nav ...
. Richardson wrote the sections on
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
,
botany
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 w ...
and
ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...
for the official account of the expedition.
Franklin and Richardson returned to Canada in 1825 and went overland by fur trade routes to the mouth of the
Mackenzie River. Franklin was to go as far west as possible and Richardson was to go east to the mouth of the
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake, and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, ...
. These were the only known points on the central coast and had been reached in 1793 and 1771 respectively. He had with him two specially-built boats which were more ocean-worthy than the voyageur canoes used by Franklin on his previous expedition. They gave their names to the
Dolphin and Union Strait
Dolphin and Union Strait lies in both the Northwest Territories (Inuvik Region) and Nunavut (Kitikmeot Region), Canada, between the mainland and Victoria Island. It is part of the Northwest Passage. It links Amundsen Gulf, lying to the northwest, ...
near the end of his route.
His journey was successful and he reached his furthest east the same day that Franklin reached his furthest west (16 August 1826). He abandoned his boats at
Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls (or Bloody Fall, or Kogluktok, meaning "it flows rapidly" or "spurts like a cut artery" in Inuktitut) is a waterfall on the Coppermine River, in the Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park of Nunavut, Canada. It was the site of the Blo ...
and trekked overland to
Fort Franklin which he reached three weeks before Franklin. Together they had surveyed 1,878 miles of previously unmapped coast. The natural history discoveries of this expedition were so great that they had to be recorded in two separate works, the ''Flora Boreali-Americana'' (1833–40), written by
William Jackson Hooker
Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...
, and the ''Fauna Boreali-Americana'' (1829–37), written by Richardson,
William John Swainson
William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.
Life
Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...
,
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...
and
William Kirby.
At 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 ...
meeting in 1842, Richardson described the
diving apparatus and treatment of diver Roderick Cameron following an injury that occurred on 14 October 1841 during the salvage operations on .
Richardson was knighted by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
in 1846. He traveled with
John Rae on an
unsuccessful search for Franklin in 1848–49, describing it in ''An Arctic Searching Expedition'' (1851).
He retired to the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
in 1855.
He died at his home Lancrigg House north of
Grasmere on 5 June 1865, and is buried at
St Oswald's Church, Grasmere.
Family
He married three times: firstly in 1818 to Mary Stiven; secondly in 1833 to Mary Booth; and finally in 1847 to Mary Fletcher.
Works
He also wrote accounts dealing with the natural history, and especially the
ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...
, of several other Arctic voyages, and was the author of ''Icones Piscium'' (1843), ''Catalogue of Apodal Fish in the British Museum'' (1856), the second edition of
Yarrell's ''History of British Fishes'' (1860), ''The Polar Regions'' (1861).
and ''Arctic Ordeal: The Journal of John Richardson'' Edited by C. Stuart Houston (1984). The National Marine Biological Library at the
Marine Biological Association
The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel H ...
retains some original illustrations used by Richardson in preparation for the second edition of Yarrell's book.
Eponyms
Richardson is commemorated in the
scientific names
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
of four
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of reptiles: ''
Eremiascincus richardsonii,
Hemidactylus richardsonii,
Myron richardsonii'', and ''
Sphaerodactylus richardsonii''.
The mammal species ''
Mustela richardsonii
The American ermine or American stoat (''Mustela richardsonii'') is a species of mustelid native to most of North America.
Taxonomy
It was long considered conspecific with the stoat (''M. erminea''), but a 2021 study found it to be a distinct ...
'', ''
Urocitellus richardsonii'', and ''
Dicrostonyx richardsoni'' are also named for him.
See also
*
:Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, John
19th-century explorers
1787 births
1865 deaths
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Scottish polar explorers
Explorers of the Arctic
Fellows of the Royal Society
Knights Bachelor
People from Dumfries
Royal Medal winners
Royal Navy Medical Service officers
Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Scottish biologists
Scottish explorers
Scottish naturalists
Scottish nature writers
Scottish ornithologists
Scottish surgeons
People from Grasmere (village)