Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Irish zoologist and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system.

Early life

Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 1785 as first son from Capt. Nicholas Aylward Vigors which served in 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment and, his first wife, Catherine Vigors, daughter of Solomon Richards of Solsborough. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford on November 1803 before he was admitted at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincol ...

on November 1806. Without completing his studies, he served in the army during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...

from 1809 to 1811 and wounded in Battle of Barossa on 5 March 1811. Though, he haven't completed his studies yet, he still published "An inquiry into the nature and extent of poetick licence" in London at 1810. He then returned to Oxford to continued his studies and achieved his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

on 1817 and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

on 1818. He practiced as a barrister and became a Doctor of Civil Law in 1832.

Zoology

Sabine's Snipe woodcut Bewick's British Birds 1847

Vigors was a co-founder of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

in 1826, and its first secretary until 1833. In that year, he founded what became the Royal Entomological Society of London. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He was the author of 40 papers, mostly on

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and t ...

. He described 110 species of birds, enough to rank him among the top 30 bird authors historically. He provided the text for John Gould's ''A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains'' (1830–32). One bird that he described was "Sabine's snipe". This was treated as a common snipe by Barrett-Hamilton in 1895 and by Meinertzhagen in 1926, but was thought to be probably a Wilson's snipe in 1945. Vigors lent a skin for later editions of Thomas Bewick's ''

History of British Birds ''A History of British Birds'' is a natural history book by Thomas Bewick, published in two volumes. Volume 1, ''Land Birds'', appeared in 1797. Volume 2, ''Water Birds'', appeared in 1804. A supplement was published in 1821. The text in ''Lan ...

''.

Politics

Vigors succeeded to his father's estate in 1828. He was MP for the borough of Carlow from 1832 until 1835. He briefly represented the constituency of County Carlow in 1835. Vigors had been elected in a by-election in June after the Conservative MPs originally returned at the

1835 United Kingdom general election The 1835 United Kingdom general election was called when Parliament was dissolved on 29 December 1834. Polling took place between 6 January and 6 February 1835, and the results saw Robert Peel's Conservatives make large gains from their low of ...

were unseated on petition and a new writ issued. On 19 August 1835 Vigors and his running mate, in the two member county constituency, were unseated on petition. The same two Conservatives who had previously been unseated were awarded the seats. On the death of one of them, Vigors won the subsequent by-election in 1837 and retained the seat until his own death. Plaques_to_Tyndall_and_Vigors,_Leighlinbridge

Plaques_to_Tyndall_and_Vigors,_Leighlinbridge

References

Bibliography

* * *''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922'', edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)

External links

*
Art UK: Toucan by Vigors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigors, Nicholas Aylward 1785 births 1840 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford British ornithologists Irish ornithologists British zoologists Irish zoologists Taxon authorities Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Carlow constituencies (1801–1922) Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Secretaries of the Zoological Society of London UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Politicians from County Carlow Irish Repeal Association MPs Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge