Thomas Norris

FRAS FRAS may refer to: * Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, post-nominal letters * Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are individuals who have bee ...

(14 January 1765 – 15 March 1852) was an English businessman, art collector, natural historian and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

, born at Croston in Lancashire. Joining the

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

firm of Peel, Yates and Co. as a

book-keeper Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. Tr ...

at the age of twenty, he eventually became a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

and amassed a considerable fortune from its success in the textile and calico-printing businesses. Amongst his partners at the firm was the businessman and politician Sir Robert Peel, whose son, also named Sir Robert Peel, served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Norris was reputedly a regular and welcome visitor at the latter's home in

Whitehall Gardens The Privy Garden of the Palace of Whitehall was a large enclosed space in Westminster, London, that was originally a pleasure garden used by the late Tudor dynasty, Tudor and House of Stuart, Stuart monarchs of England. It was created under Hen ...

. Upon his retirement to Howick House,

Penwortham Penwortham () is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the river, with major road and rail links cr ...

, in 1821, Norris purchased one half of the Lordship of Croston, and dedicated the remainder of his life to artistic and scientific pursuits. In addition to his acquisition of a valuable collection of old master paintings and rare coins, his interest in natural history was reflected by the compilation of an extensive collection of minerals, shells and insects. He was a founder member of the Entomological Society of London (in 1833) and a Fellow of the Astronomical Society of London as early as 1825, continuing as a Fellow of its successor body, the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

, from the granting of its charter in 1831 until his death in 1852.

Taxonomic honours

The importance to science of Norris's cabinet of curiosities was acknowledged by leading naturalists of the day, including G.B. Sowerby I, L.A. Reeve, J.O. Westwood, J.B.L. Buquet and F.E. Guérin-Méneville, who between them named various mollusc and insect species in his honour; although a number of these designations have since been deprecated, at least seven remain current: the

sea snails Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

Norrisia norrisii The marine snail ''Norrisia norrisii'' is a medium-sized gastropod mollusk within the family Tegulidae. It has several common names, including Norris's top snail, Norris's topsnail, norrissnail, smooth brown turban snail, or kelp snail. It was ...

'' (a.k.a. Norris's Top Snail) and '' Favartia norrisii'' (a.k.a. Norris's Murex); the

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

Calocochlia ''Calocochlea'' is a genus of large air-breathing land snails, pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Camaenidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Calocochlea Hartmann, 1843. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: htt ...

norrisii''; the

ladybird Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

'' Neda norrisii''; the

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

'' Heilipus norrisii''; the tortoise beetle '' Acentroptera norrisii''; and the

longhorn beetle The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns, are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than ...

'' Pseudophosphorus norrisii''.

Ancestry

memorial plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

in the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Croston, erected on the occasion of Norris's burial, features a modified version of the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

borne by the illustrious and ancient Norris (or Norreys) family of Speke Hall. Thomas Norris's connection with this family is not entirely clear, but a

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, title ...

of the same name was present in the neighbouring village of Tarleton by the sixteenth century, and in the early seventeenth one of ''their'' number was the first Norris known to have acquired lands in Croston. In the early nineteenth century, the Norris family of Davyhulme Hall, Urmston, claimed descent from the Norris family of Tarleton, and through them from the Norrises of Speke Hall; any such claim would apply equally well to the Norris family of Croston, to whom Thomas Norris certainly belonged.

References

External links

The Life of Thomas Norris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Thomas 19th-century British astronomers English art collectors English natural history collectors 1765 births 1852 deaths Businesspeople from Lancashire Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society People from Croston