Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook, (born 20 June 1933), styled Lord Medway until 1978, is a British

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, biologist,

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, and peer. Since 1956, he has been active in the fields of

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growi ...

, and zooarchaeology, and has influenced research and education in Southeast Asia. His career focus was on

swiftlet Swiftlets are birds from the four genera ''Aerodramus'', ''Collocalia'', ''Hydrochous'' and ''Schoutedenapus'', which form the tribe (biology), tribe Collocaliini within the swift (bird), swift family (biology), family Apodidae. The group contain ...

s and other small Southeast Asian birds, as well as on mammals, including

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

s. He is the author of ''Wild Mammals of South-East Asia'' (1986), ''Wonders of nature in South-East Asia'' (1997) and ''Swiftlets of Borneo: Builders of Edible Nests'' (2002) and ''Key Environments: Malaysia'' (2013), which had a foreword from

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

Early life and career

Cranbrook was born in London, the eldest child of John Gathorne-Hardy, 4th Earl of Cranbrook, an archaeologist and also a zoologist, and his second wife, Fidelity Seebohm, daughter of Hugh Exton Seebohm and sister of Lord Seebohm. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

. Cranbrook attended Cambridge at the same time as his cousin, the writer and biographer Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy. He earned his PhD in 1960 from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. A tropical biologist, Cranbrook worked in Malaya, beginning his career as an assistant at Sarawak Museum, Sarawak. He was a senior lecturer in zoology between 1961 and 1970 at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and a Jajason Siswa Lokantara Fellow between 1960 and 1961 at Indonesia. After many years working in the far-east, he returned with his wife Caroline Cranbrook and young family to take up residence at his family seat, Glemham House, Great Glemham, near Saxmundham, Suffolk. He succeeded as Earl of Cranbrook upon his father's death in 1978, and sat as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

peer in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He left the Lords in November 1999 as a result of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

; he was not a candidate to retain a place in the House as an elected hereditary peer. Cranbrook has been awarded the Royal Geographical Founders Gold Medal and the WWF Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Award in recognition of his work in UK and Tropical Nature Conservation and Research. He was created Panglima Negara Bintang Sarawak (Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak) and received the Merdeka Award recognising his outstanding contribution to the people of Malaysia. A species of white-toothed shrew, Gathorne's shrew (''Crocidura gathornei'') is named in his honor.

Marriage and issue

On 9 May 1967, he married Caroline Jarvis, daughter of Col. Ralph Jarvis and his wife Antonia ''née'' Meade, a scion of the Earl of Clanwilliam. Cranbrook and his wife have three children: * John Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Lord Medway (born 26 October 1968), heir apparent to the earldom, born in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

* Lady Flora Gathorne-Hardy (born 10 October 1971) * Hon. Argus Edward Gathorne-Hardy (born 28 May 1973)

References

External links

* 1933 births Living people People from Westminster 20th-century British zoologists British biologists People educated at Eton College Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Birmingham Scientists from London Gathorne Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999 Officers_of_the_Order_of_St_John {{UK-zoologist-stub