Thomas Edmondston (1825–1846) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born botanist, born in Buness,

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

. The family of Edmondston (also spelt Edmonston) was prominent in 19th-century Shetland. Thomas Edmondston's uncle, also Thomas Edmondston, was

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

of the Buness estate on

and host to many scientific visitors to Shetland. Another uncle, Dr Arthur Edmondston, had written ''A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands'' in 1809. His father, Laurence Edmondston, was also an accomplished naturalist. Edmondston compiled the first known list of Shetland plants at the age of 11. He discovered several rare plants growing on the serpentine rocks on Unst, including the

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Shetland Mouse-ear ''Cerastium nigrescens'', known as Edmondston's Chickweed on the island. In 1845, he produced his ''Flora of Shetland'', which, despite a few shortcomings, was a considerable achievement given his age and it is still an important reference for Shetland botany. Less well known is his fauna, mainly a list of birds, published in the journal ''

The Zoologist ''The Zoologist'' was a monthly natural history magazine established in 1843 by Edward Newman and published in London. Newman acted as editor-in-chief until his death in 1876, when he was succeeded, first by James Edmund Harting (1876–1896) ...

'' in 1844. This is less reliable and much of it was obviously derived much from the work of his father, Laurence, and his uncle, Arthur. Thomas Edmondston was appointed Professor of Botany at

Anderson's University The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

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(now

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

), at the age of just 20. A few months later, he was offered the position of naturalist on board HMS ''Herald'', on a journey retracing the voyage of , and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

became a frequent correspondent with requests for further observations. While disembarking from a boat on the coast of South America, however, Edmondston was killed by an accidentally discharged gun, cutting short a career of great promise. After his death, Charles Darwin was in regular correspondence with his father on Unst and was particularly interested in Edmonston's ongoing ornithological observations. The Edmonston family on Unst remain as Laird. Confusingly, after his death, his parents named another newborn son Thomas.

References

*Pennington, M. G., Osborn, K., Harvey, P. V., Riddington, R., Okill, J. D., Ellis, P. M. & Heubeck, M. 2004. ''The Birds of Shetland''. Christopher Helm, London. *Scott, W. & Palmer, R. 1987. ''The Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Shetland Islands''. Shetland Times, Lerwick. {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmondston, Thomas Scottish botanists People associated with Shetland 1825 births 1846 deaths People from Unst