Colonel Richard Henry Beddome (11 May 1830 – 23 February 1911) was a British military officer and naturalist in

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 ...

, who became chief conservator of the Madras Forest Department. In the mid-19th century, he extensively surveyed several remote and then-unexplored hill ranges in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

south India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

, including those in the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats pass through Odisha, Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka as well as Telangana. They are eroded and cut ...

such as

Yelandur Yalandur is a taluk and town in Chamarajanagar district in southern Karnataka, India. It has historic and cultural importance in this region. Along with three other taluks, it was officially included into Chamarajanagar district when the distric ...

Kollegal Kollegal is one of the major taluks in the Chamarajanagara District of Karnataka State in the south of India. It is also the largest taluk in Karnataka, Kollegal is well known for its silk industry which attracts traders from all over the stat ...

Shevaroy Hills The Selvarayan hills, with the anglicised name Shevaroy Hills, are a towering mountain range (1620 m) near the city of Salem, in Tamil Nadu state, southern India. It is one of the major hill stations in Tamil Nadu and in the Eastern Ghats. The loc ...

Yelagiri Yelagiri () is a hill station located in the newly formed Tirupattur district of Tamil Nadu, India, situated off the Vaniyambadi- Tirupattur road. Located at an altitude of 1,110.6 metres above Mean Sea Level and spread across 30 km2, the ...

Nallamala Hills The Nallamalas (also called the Nallamalla Range) are a section of the Eastern Ghats which forms the eastern boundary of Rayalaseema region of the state of Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district of the state of Telangana, in India. They run i ...

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...

hills, and the Western Ghats such as

Nilgiri hills The Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in northwestern Tamil Nadu, Southern Karnataka, and eastern Kerala in India. They are located at the trijunction of three states and connect the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats. At le ...

Anaimalai hills The Anamala or Anaimalai, also known as the Elephant Mountains, are a range of mountains in the southern Western Ghats of central Kerala ( Idukki district, Ernakulam district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district) and span the border of wes ...

Agasthyamalai Hills The Pothigai Hills, also known as Agasthiyar Mountain is a 1,866-metre (6,122 ft)-tall peak in the southern part of the Western Ghats of South India. The peak lies in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu near the border of Kerala. The ar ...

and

Kudremukh Kudremukha(ಕುದುರೆ ಮುಖ) is a mountain range and name of a peak located in Chikkamagaluru district, in Karnataka, India. It is also the name of a small hill station iron ore mining town situated near the mountain, about 20 kilo ...

. He described many

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 plants,

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

, and

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

from southern India and Sri Lanka, and several species from this region described by others bear his name.

Early life

Richard was the eldest son of Richard Boswell Brandon Beddome, solicitor, of

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...

, S.W. He was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and trained for the legal profession, but preferred to join the East India Company at the age of 18 and joined the 42nd Madras Native Infantry as a cadet at Jabalpur.

Military career

He entered the Army, obtaining a direct cadetship in 1848 in the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

's service, and sent to India was posted to the 42nd Madras Native Infantry He was with that regiment at

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

in 1856, serving as

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

and interpreter of the regiment, and from there he went to

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

. Soon after his arrival at

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, at the end of 1856, he was appointed to the Madras Forest Department, and never rejoined his regiment. These are dates of his commissions: ensign, 20 January 1848; lieutenant, 10 November 1853; captain, 18 February 1861; major, 20 January 1868; lieutenant colonel, 20 January 1874; colonel, 20 January 1879.

Madras Forest Department

In 1857, he was selected on account of his devotion to

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 natural history as an assistant to Dr. Hugh Cleghorn, the first conservator of the newly formed Forest Department of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

. He succeeded Cleghorn in 1859 and remained Chief Conservator until 1882.

Botanist, herpetologist, malacologist

He became a member 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 ...

in 1880. He made many floral studies in India and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, including ''Trees of the Madras Presidency'' in 1863 and ''Handbook of the Ferns of British India, Ceylon and Malaya Peninsula'' in 1892. He also studied reptiles, amphibians, and

mollusc 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 species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s. Colonel Beddome was essentially a botanist. In the study of the flora of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

, he devoted the best days of his life. The result was the publication of a series of valuable works containing figures of many species. The drawings were executed with great accuracy by the native draughtsmen he had trained to draw. His botanical publications included ''The Flora Sylvatica for Southern India'', 1869–73; ''Ferns of Southern India'', 1873; ''Ferns of British India'', 1876; ''Forester's Manual of Botany for Southern India'', 1869–74; ''Icones Plantarum Indies Orientalis'', 1874. On

Reptilia Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

and

Batrachia The Batrachia are a clade of amphibians that includes frogs and salamanders, but not caecilians nor the extinct allocaudates. The name Batrachia was first used by French zoologist Pierre André Latreille in 1800 to refer to frogs, but has more ...

, he wrote at least 15 papers, and described over 40 new species of reptiles and amphibians. This is a complete list of his papers on

Mollusca 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 species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

: ''Descriptions of some new Operculated Land-shells from Southern India and Ceylon'', 1S75. ''Descriptions of Land-shells from the Island of Koror, Pelew Group'', 1889. ''Descriptions of some new Land-shells from the Indian Region'', 1891. ''Notes on Indian and Ceylonese species of Glessula'', 1906. ''Descriptions of Labyrinthus cuclausus and

Neocyclotus ''Neocyclotus'' is a genus of gastropods The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from sal ...

Belli, n.spp., from Colombia'', 1908 and in conjunction with H. H. Godwin-Austen: ''New species of Cyclophorus and a

Spiraculum ''Spiraculum'' is a genus of operculate land snails in the subfamily Cyclophorinae of the family Cyclophoridae Cyclophoridae is a taxonomic family of small to large tropical land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod mollusks i ...

from the Khasi and Naga Hills, Assam''. Beddome described over 1,000 species of animals and plants. Beddome formed a fine collection of land shells from India and other parts of the world, among which the minute forms were his favourites. His collection of specimens was presented to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

at difficult times, and some specimens were also left with the

Indian Museum The Indian Museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in colonial-era texts, is the ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India as well as in Asia. It has rare ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. Further specimens are also in th
National Museums Scotland
He married Mary Sophia Fullerton in 1862 in London. They had seven children, all christened in the

. He retired in 1892 and lived at "Sispara", West Hill,

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

until his death.

Eponymous species

Some of the species named in his honor are: *'' Rhinolophus beddomei'', lesser woolly horseshoe bat, a species of bat in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Rhinolophidae *'' Eutropis beddomei'',Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Beddome", p. 21). Beddome's skink, a species of lizard in the family Scincidae *''

Otocryptis beddomii ''Agasthyagama beddomii'', commonly known as the Indian kangaroo lizard, is a diurnality, diurnal, terrestrial animal, terrestrial, insectivorous agamid lizard, Endemism, endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Etymology The Specific name ...

'', Beddome's kangaroo lizard, a species of lizard in the family

Agamidae Agamidae is a family (biology), family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview phylogenetics, Phylogenetic ...

*''

Ristella beddomii ''Ristella beddomii'', commonly known as Beddome's cat skink and Beddome's ristella, is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to southwestern India. Etymology ''R. beddomii'' is named after Richard Henry Be ...

'', Beddome's cat

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...

, a species of lizard endemic to India *''Cnemaspis beddomei'', Beddome's day gecko, a species of

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

found in the Western Ghats *''

Kaestlea beddomii ''Kaestlea beddomii'', also known commonly as Beddome's ground skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Etymology ''K. beddomii'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome, a B ...

'', a species of skink found in the Western Ghats *'' Ophisops beddomei'', Beddome's snake-eye, a species of lizard in the family

Lacertidae The Lacertidae are the family (biology), family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at least 300 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group o ...

*'' Gerrhopilus beddomii'', Beddome's worm snake, a species of

blind snake The Scolecophidia, commonly known as blind snakes or thread snakes, are an infraorder of snakes. They range in length from . All are fossorial (adapted for burrowing). Five families and 39 genera are recognized. The Scolecophidia infraorder is m ...

found in southern India *''

Uropeltis beddomii ''Uropeltis beddomii'', commonly known as Beddome's earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India. Etymology ''U. beddomi'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome (1830–1911), British army offic ...

'', Beddome's shield-tail snake, a species of snake in the family

Uropeltidae The Uropeltidae, also known Common name, commonly as the shieldtails or the shield-tailed snakes, are a Family (biology), family of primitive, nonvenomous, burrowing snakes native to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the Gr ...

, endemic to India *''

Boiga beddomei ''Boiga beddomei'', commonly known as Beddome's cat snake, is a species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India, in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa states. Geographic range ''B. beddom ...

'', Beddome's cat snake, a species of snake found in Sri Lanka and India (Western Ghats) *''

Hebius beddomei The Nilgiri keelback (''Hebius beddomei''), also known commonly as Beddome's keelback, is a species of snake found in the Western Ghats in India. The species is named after Richard Henry Beddome, 1830–1911, British army officer and natural ...

'', Beddome's keelback, a species of snake found in the Western Ghats *''

Calliophis beddomei Beddome's coral snake (''Calliophis beddomei)'' is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to hills of peninsular India. Etymology ''C. beddomei'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome (1830-1911), British arm ...

'', Beddome's coral snake, a species of venomous snake in the family

Elapidae Elapidae (, commonly known as elapids ; grc, ἔλλοψ ''éllops'' "sea-fish") is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus Emydoceph ...

*''

Ichthyophis beddomei ''Ichthyophis beddomei'' is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. This species is distributed widely in the Western Ghats in southern India. The nominal species might be a composite of several cryptic species. It is also known a ...

'', Beddome's caecilian, a species of

caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of ...

in the family

Ichthyophiidae The Ichthyophiidae are the family of Asiatic tailed caecilians or fish caecilians found in South and Southeast Asia as well as southernmost China. They are primitive caecilians, lacking many of the derived characters found in the other families ...

*'' Duttaphrynus beddomii'', Beddome's toad, a species of frog endemic to the Western Ghats *'' Raorchestes beddomii'', Beddome's bush frog, a species of frog in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly ...

*''

Nyctibatrachus beddomii ''Nyctibatrachus beddomii'' (common names: Beddome's night frog, pigmy wrinkled frog, Beddome's dwarf wrinkled frog, and Tirunelveli's hill frog) is a species of frog in the family Nyctibatrachidae. The epithet or specific name, ''beddomii'', ...

'', Beddome's night frog, a species of frog in the family Nyctibatrachidae *''

Indirana beddomii ''Indirana beddomii'', Beddome's leaping frog, Beddome's Indian frog, or simply Beddome's frog, is a species of frog found in the Western Ghats. They are usually detected by their long leaps as they flush from the ground when disturbed. The sp ...

'', Beddome's litter frog, a species of frog in the family

Ranixalidae Ranixalidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the leaping frogs or Indian frogs. They are endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or oth ...

*''

Mariaella beddomei ''Mariaella beddomei'' is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Ariophantidae. The specific name is in honor of Richard Henry Beddome. Distribution This species lives in India. It is en ...

'', a species of

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

*'' Hemiplecta beddomii'', a species of gastropod *'' Cycas beddomei'', a species of

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk (botany), trunk with a crown (botany), crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants o ...

from India *'' Syzygium beddomei'', a species of plant in the family

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

endemic to India *'' Cynometra beddomei'', a species of plant in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

endemic to India *''

Psychotria beddomei ''Psychotria beddomei'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation ...

'', a species of plant in the family

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

endemic to India *'' Litsea beddomei'', a species of plant in the family

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

endemic to India *'' Beddomixalus bijui'', a species of tree frog in the family

References

External links

* *
Handbook to the ferns of British India (1892)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beddome 1830 births 1911 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School British Indian Army officers British botanists Botanists with author abbreviations British zoologists Naturalists of British India People of British Ceylon British malacologists