George Crawford Hyndman (1796–1867) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exi ...

and amateur

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. He was the son of Cherry Crawford Hyndman (1766-1845) and James Hyndman (1761?–1825), a Belfast Woollen merchant. Both parents, in the 1790s, were active in the republican Society of United Irishmen. In heavily garrisoned Belfast, neither appear to have been implicated in the 1798 rebellion, but, for whatever reason, James Hyndman did not join other merchants and local dignitaries in signing a proclamation published just before the risings to the north and south of the town in June, which expressed support for the government. George was educated at the Belfast Academy until apprenticed to his father’s business at age 14. After his father died in 1825, he took the business over while devoting his leisure time to Irish natural history. He was particularly interested in the study of

marine zoology Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

and

marine botany Marine botany is the study of flowering vascular plant species and marine algae that live in shallow seawater of the open ocean and the littoral zone, along shorelines of the intertidal zone and coastal wetlands, even in low-salinity brackish wat ...

, especially

molluscs 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 estim ...

and algae. His specimens of both groups may now be found in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

.Chesney, H.C.G. (1995) "Ireland's pioneering malacologists - from dredging to drummondi2. ''Arch. Nat. Hist''. 22: 229-239 Hyndman was a member of the Belfast Dredging Committee (other members were George Dickie, Edward Waller and

John Gwyn Jeffreys John Gwyn Jeffreys FRS (18 January 1809 – 21 January 1885) was a British conchologist and malacologist. Biography John Gwyn Jeffreys was born on 18 January 1809, at Swansea, Wales. He was the eldest son of J. Jeffreys of Fynone, Glamorgan. ...

). This operated from 1857 to 1859, under grants from the British Association for the Advancement of Science. William Thompson described ''Panningia hyndmani'', a

hermit crab Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an as ...

for him as the discoverer in

Belfast Lough Belfast Lough is a large, intertidal sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to ...

. He was also a founder member of the

Belfast Natural History Society The Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society was founded in 1821 to promote the scientific study of animals, plants, fossils, rocks and minerals. The Society was founded by George Crawford Hyndman, James Lawson Drummond, James Grim ...

and contributed to S.A.Stewart and T.H.Corry's ''Flora of the North-east''. ''Anapagurus hyndmanni'' (

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

, 1845) as well as ''A. laevis'' and ''Pagurus cuanensis'' were also discovered by Hyndman at

Portaferry Portaferry () is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It is home to the Exploris aquarium and is well known for the annual Gala Week Flo ...

(and Bangor) and named by Thompson (q.v.) without formal descriptions. Other hermit crab species named for Hyndman were: *''Escharina hyndmanni'' (

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

, 1847) *''Iophon hyndmani'' ( Bowerbank, 1858) *''Pseudione hyndmanni'' ( Bate & Westwood, 1868). The Ulster Museum has an 1854-62 archive of George Crawford Hyndman containing 20 letters from Francis Archer, Edward Benn, J. Bristow, Edward Charlesworth(1813–93) an English naturalist and palaeontologist), A. Crawford, Robert Damon (1814-1889) Dorset geologist and dealer in fossils), George Dickie,

Edmund Getty Edmund Getty MRIA (1799 in Belfast – 1857 in London) was an Irish antiquarian and naturalist. Getty was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He became Ballast Master of the Belfast Ballast Board and, later, Secretary of the ...

, William Molony, R. W. Hincks, J. Morpan,

Robert Patterson Robert Patterson (January 12, 1792 – August 7, 1881) was an Irish-born United States major general during the American Civil War, chiefly remembered for inflicting an early defeat on Stonewall Jackson, but crucially failing to stop Confede ...

, Edward Waller (1803-1873) Irish land owner owner of a yacht used for dredgings) and Charles Ward.

Works

*1853 Notes on the natural history of Tory Island. ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'' 1: 34–37. *1857 Note on a curious monstrosity of the common shell (Fusus antiquus). ''Nat. Hist''. : 250. *1858 Report of the Proceedings of the Belfast Dredging Committee. ''Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science'' : 220-23

*1859 Report of the Belfast Dredging Committee. ''Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science'' : 282-29

*1860 Report of the Belfast Dredging Committee for 1859. ''Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science'' : 116-11

(Committee joined by Charles Wyville Thomson. Most of Hyndman's discoveries are published with attribution in Thompson, William (edited by Patterson, R.) ''

The Natural History of Ireland ''The Natural History of Ireland'' is a four volume work by William Thompson. The first three volumes were published by Reeve and Benham, London between 1849 and 1851. Volume 4 was published by Henry G. Bohn, London in 1856. ''The Natural Histo ...

'' Volume 4: Mammalia, reptiles and fishes. Also, invertebrata. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856

References

*Chesney, H.C.G. 1995 Ireland's pioneering malacologists - from dredging to drummondi. ''Arch. Nat. Hist''. 22: 229-239 *Foster, J. W. and Chesney, H. C. G (eds.), 1977: ''Nature in Ireland: A Scientific and Cultural History''. Lilliput Press. .

External links

About Ireland
pdfs of ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyndman, George Algologists Amateur biologists 19th-century Irish botanists 19th-century Irish zoologists Scientists from Belfast 1796 births 1867 deaths Marine botany