George Finlayson (1790–1823) was a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
naturalist and traveller. He was called one of the best naturalists of his day, and he was noted for his pioneering studies of the plants, animals, and people of southern Thailand and the Malay peninsula.
Finlayson was born in
Thurso
Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great ...
in 1790. He was clerk to Dr Somerville, chief of the army medical staff in Scotland, and afterwards to Dr Farrel, chief of the army medical staff in Ceylon. He then transferred to
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, and he attached to the
8th Light Dragoons
The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces ...
as assistant surgeon in 1819. In 1821 and 1822, he accompanied the
Crawfurd trade mission to Siam (now
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
) and
Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
(now Vietnam) as a naturalist, returning with it to
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 ...
in 1823. By this time, his health was thoroughly broken. He died on the passage from Bengal to Scotland in August 1823.
The journal he had kept during the mission was edited, with a prefatory note on the author, by Sir
Stamford Raffles, F.R.S., and published in 1826 under the title ''The Mission to Siam and Hue, the capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821–2, from the Journal of the late George Finlayson, Esq.''
The bird
stripe-throated bulbul
The stripe-throated bulbul (''Pycnonotus finlaysoni''), or streak-throated bulbul, is a species of songbird in the bulbul family (biology), family of passerine birds. It is found in south-eastern Asia where its natural habitats are Tropical and s ...
(''Pycnonotus finlaysoni'') and the
Finlayson's squirrel (''Callosciurus finlaysonii'') are named in Finlayson's honour.
References
External links
*
Project Gutenberg EBook versions of The Mission to Siam, and Hué the Capital of Cochin China, in the Years 1821–2, by George Finlayson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlayson, George
1790 births
1823 deaths
People from Thurso
Scottish naturalists
Scottish travel writers