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John Stephenson
CIE 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 ...
FRCS (6 February 1871, in
Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
– 2 February 1933, in London) was a surgeon and zoologist.
He was a leading expert on the
earthworm
An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...
s of the Indian subcontinent and served as editor of the ''
Fauna of British India
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
'' series from 1927. Knowledgeable in Persian, Hindustani and some Arabic, he was also an orientalist scholar and translated several works from Persian to English.
Life
Stephenson was born in Padiham and was education at
Burnley Grammar School
Burnley Grammar School was latterly, a state-funded selective boys grammar School, situated in Byron Street in Burnley, England. However, during its long history, it moved between a number of sites in the town.
History
In 1552, on the order of ...
, matriculated from
Owen's College, Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...
and graduated there with a B.Sc. (Lond.) in 1890 and M.B., B.Chir. (Manc.) in 1893. Stephenson was a house physician from 1893 to 1894 at the
Manchester Royal Infirmary
Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...
and then in 1894 at the
Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, London.
[ He had also studied zoology under A. Milnes Marshall. He joined the ]Indian Medical Service
The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...
as a lieutenant on 29 July 1895. He became captain on 29 July 1898, major on 29 January 1907, and lieutenant-colonel on 29 January 1915, retiring with that rank on 6 September 1921.
On 14 December 1905 Stephenson was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...
in London. In 1909 he received an honorary doctorate (DSc) from the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
.
The Lahore Medical College did not find qualified teachers in zoology and Stephenson was invited by his friend the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, Sir Denzil Ibbetson
Sir Denzil Charles Jelf Ibbetson (30 August 1847 – 21 February 1908)Talbot (2012). was an administrator in British India and an author. He served as Chief-Commissioner of the Central Provinces and Berar from 1898 to 1899 and Lie ...
. In 1906 he became Professor of Biology at the Government College in Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
and in 1912 became Professor of Zoology and also Principal of the College. He retained these posts until he left the Indian Medical Service early in 1920, and returned to Britain. In 1912 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
. His proposers were Charles Robertson Marshall
Charles Robertson Marshall FRSE was an early 20th century British physician.
Life
In May 1894 he became assistant to Prof John Buckley Bradbury at Cambridge University. He left in 1899 to become Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at ...
, Arthur Robinson, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait an ...
and William Peddie
250px, William Peddie (ca 1910)
William Peddie FRSE LLD (31 May 1861 – 2 June 1946) was a Scottish physicist and applied mathematician, known for his research on colour vision and molecular magnetism.
Life
He was born in Papa Westray in Orkney ...
. He won the Society's Keith Medal for the period 1917 to 1919. He was made CIE in 1919. From 1920 to 1929 he was a lecturer in Zoology at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.
Stephenson was proficient in Hindustani, Persian and later studied Pashtu, Punjabi and had some knowledge of Arabic. He translated into English and published in 1910 the ''Hadiqat al Haqiqa
Mathnawi Hadiqat al Haqiqa va Shari'at al-Tariqah ( ar, حديقة الحقيقة وشريعة الطريقة, lit=The Garden of Truth and The Path to Trek) or Elahi Nameh ( fa, الهی نامه, lit=Treatise to Theology) is an early Sufi book o ...
'', a work by the sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
poet Sanā'i. He left Edinburgh University in 1929 to work at the Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...
as editor of the ''Fauna of British India'' series following the death of Arthur Shipley
Sir Arthur Everett Shipley Order of the British Empire, GBE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (10 March 1861 – 22 September 1927) was an England, English zoologist and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
Biography
Shipley was born in ...
.
Family
In 1895 he married Gertrude Bayne, who outlived him. There were no children from the marriage.
Awards and honours
*1912 — Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
*1919 — Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:
#Knight Grand Commander (GCIE)
#Knight Commander ( KCIE)
#Companion ( CIE)
No appoi ...
*1930 — Fellow of the Royal Society of London
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 ...
In 1914, botanist S.R. Kashyap published '' Stephensoniella'', a genus of liverwort in (Exormothecaceae
Exormothecaceae is a family of liverworts in the order Marchantiales
Marchantiales is an order of thallose liverworts (also known as "complex thalloid liverworts") that includes species like ''Marchantia polymorpha'', a widespread plant ofte ...
family) and named in his honour.
Selected publications
*as author:
**
**
**
*as translator:
**
References
External links
Plarr's Lives of Fellows - Royal College of Surgeons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, John
1871 births
1933 deaths
Alumni of the University of Manchester
Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Indian Medical Service officers
People educated at Burnley Grammar School
People from Padiham