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Dr. Robert Kaye Greville
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
FLS LLD (13 December 1794 – 4 June 1866) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
, bryologist, and
botanist 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 wo ...
. He was an accomplished artist and illustrator of natural history. In addition to art and science he was interested in causes like
abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...
, capital punishment, keeping Sunday special and the
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
. He has a mountain in
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
named after him.


Biography

Greville was born at
Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...
, Durham, but was brought up in Derbyshire by his parents Dorothy ( Chaloner) and Robert Greville. His father who liked to compose was the rector of the parish church in Edlaston in Derbyshire. Greville had an interest in natural history since he was very young, but he originally studied medicine. Realising that he did not need an income he discarded four years of medical education in London and Edinburgh and decided to concentrated on botany which had been a strong interest when he was a boy. Greville married William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland's niece Charlotte Eden in 1816. In 1823 he began the illustration and publishing of the journal ''Scottish cryptogamic flora'' which he dedicated to his friend
Hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...
. In the following year he published his guide to the flora of Edinburgh, "Flora Edinensis".. Partially as a result of these publications Greville was awarded a doctorate by the University of Glasgow in 1826.Obituary
accessed 5 August 2008
He gave a large number of lectures in the natural sciences and built up collections that were bought by the University of Edinburgh. His specimens of plants and fungi are now held in the
Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...
of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. At some point in late 1826 or early in 1827, he took a boat trip to the Isle of May with two students, William Ainsworth and Charles Darwin. To their amusement, this "eminent cryptogamist" laughed so much at screeching seabirds that he had to "lie down on the greensward to enjoy his prolonged cachinnation."Bettany, G. T. (1887) ''Life of Charles Darwin''. London: Walter Scott, pp
22–23
also
In 1828 he received an honour when Mount Greville in
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
was named in Greville's honour by a fellow botanist, Allan Cunningham. Mount Greville became part of an Australian National park in 1948 and is now part of
Moogerah Peaks National Park Moogerah Peaks is a National Park in the Fassifern Valley of South East Queensland, Australia, located approximately 70 km south west of the state capital Brisbane. The 676-hectare park consists of four separate protected areas which surro ...
. The aboriginal name for Mount Greville and the area around it (including
Cunninghams Gap Cunninghams Gap is a pass over the Great Dividing Range between the Darling Downs and the Fassifern Valley in Queensland, Australia. The Gap is the major route over the Main Range National Park, Main Range along the Great Dividing Range, between ...
) is Moogerah which gave its name to the Park.Moogerah Peaks National Park
at Queensland site.
In the 1830s he is listed as living at 1 Wharton Place in Edinburgh. In 1835 Greville published some piano music for a sacred melody written by Rev. W. H. Bathurst. In 1839–40 he served as President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for the first time.Darwin Project biography
, accessed 5 August 2008
In addition to science he was interested in political causes like abolitionism, capital punishment, keeping Sunday special and the
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
. In 1840, Greville was one of the four vice-presidents at the World's Anti-Slavery Convention at Freemason's Hall in London on 12 June 1840. The picture above shows him in a detail from a painting made to commemorate the event which attracted delegates from America, France, Haiti, Australia, Ireland, Jamaica and Barbados. The painting now hangs in the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
in London. Greville was a member of a number of learned societies including being honorary secretary of the Biological Society and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
. He was an honorary member of the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
and the Howard Society The Punishment of Death
Society for the Diffusion of Information on the Subject of Capital Punishments, 1837
as well as being a corresponding member of natural history societies including Brussels, Paris, Leipzig and Philadelphia. He was secretary of the Sabbath Alliance and a compiler of the Church of England's 1838 hymn book. Towards the end of his life he created landscape paintings which were exhibited. He became a professional artist as he was short of money. In 1865–66 Greville served as President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for the second and last time. He died at his home, Ormelie Villa, in Murrayfield, Edinburgh on 4 June 1866 whilst still taking an active interest in his work having new papers in preparation for publication. He is buried in
Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...
on the west side of Edinburgh. The grave lies in the westmost of the two central southern sections.


Family

He married Charlotte Eden on 17 October 1816 in
Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...
, Durham. Robert Kaye Greville and Charlotte Greville (née Eden) had 3 sons, Robert Northmore Greville, Eden Kaye Greville and Chaloner Greville and three daughters. Charlotte Dorothea Greville married the Rev. David Hogarth on 3 April 1857.


Journals

* ''Flora Edinensis'' (1824) * ''Tentamen methodi Muscorum'' (1822–1826)
''Icones filicum'' or ''Figures and Descriptions of Ferns''
(1830) (with Sir W. J. Hooker) * ''Scottish cryptogamic flora'' (1822–1828) * ''Algae britannicae'' (1830) * ''Facts illustrative of the drunkenness of Scotland with observations on the responsibility of the clergy, magistrates, and other influential bodies'' (1834)Bio of R.K.Greville
Archives Hub, accessed 5 August 2008
* ''Slavery and the slave trade in the United States of America; and the extent to which the American churches are involved in their support''., 1845, Edinburgh * ''The Amethyst'', a Christian annual co-written with Dr
Richard Huie Dr Richard Huie FRCSEd (16 August 1795 – 10 July 1867) was a 19th-century Scottish surgeon who served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for the period 1840 to 1842. An ardent Christian he was also a popular hymn-writer ...
1831 onwards


Botanical reference


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greville, Robert Kaye 1794 births 1866 deaths Scottish botanists Scottish mycologists Scottish abolitionists Scottish temperance activists Burials at the Dean Cemetery Bryologists Scottish illustrators Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Natural history illustrators 19th-century biologists 19th-century Scottish people People from Bishop Auckland Alumni of the University of Edinburgh