Richard William Coppinger, (11 October 1847 – 2 April 1910) was a British Navy surgeon and naturalist. (The entry for Coppinger erroneously gives his place of death as

Farnham, Surrey Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the administrative counties of England, county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the ...

Biography

Richard William Coppinger was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 11 October 1847. He graduated M.D. from the

Queen's University of Ireland The Queen's University of Ireland was established formally by royal charter on 3 September 1850, as the degree-awarding university of the ''Queen's Colleges'' of Belfast, Cork, and Galway that were established in 1845 "to afford a university ...

in 1870. He was a surgeon on HMS ''Alert'', for the ship's Arctic expedition from 1875 to 1876 and the ship's expedition and Pacific cruise, including the Patagonian coast, Polynesia, and the

Mascarene Islands The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their na ...

, from 1878 to 1882. Whilst on HMS ''Alert'', he collected botanical specimens from

Magellan Straits The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural ...

landfalls, Tahiti, Fiji, Australia, the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

, Singapore, and the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

, in addition to extensive zoological collections. In 1889 he was appointed instructor in hygiene at the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

Royal Hospital Haslar The Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, which was also known as the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar, was one of Britain's leading Royal Naval Hospitals (and latterly a tri-service Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), MOD hospital) for over ...

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

. In 1901 he was appointed Inspector-General of Hospitals and Ships. He married in 1884 and had three sons and one daughter. He died in Wallington on 2 April 1910.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coppinger, Richard William 1847 births 1910 deaths Royal Navy Medical Service officers British naturalists