George Edwards (naturalist)

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George Edwards
Edwards George 1693 1773.jpg
Born(1694-04-03)3 April 1694
Stratford, Essex, England
Died23 July 1773(1773-07-23) (aged 79)
Plaistow, Essex, Great Britain
NationalityEnglish, British
Known forNatural history writings and illustrations

George Edwards (3 April 1694 – 23 July 1773) was an English naturalist and ornithologist, known as the "father of British ornithology".[1]

Edwards was born at West Ham, then in the county of Essex. In his early years he travelled extensively through mainland Europe, studying natural history, and gained a reputation for his coloured drawings of animals, especially birds.

Over a period of 21 years Edwards published seven volumes containing descriptions and hand-coloured etchings of birds. In a few cases he depicted other animals. None of the species that he included were normally found in the British Isles.

The first four volumes were published between 1743 and 1751 and have the title A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. The three subsequent volumes have the title Gleanings Of Natural History and were published between 1758 and 1764. The volumes contain a total of 362 etchings that were all drawn by Edwards. He numbered them consecutively through the seven volumes.

When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition in 1758, he listed a binomial name for every plant and animal. For many of the birds he cited the description and illustration in A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Later, when he updated the Systema Naturae for the 12th edition in 1766, he cited the Gleanings of Natural History.

Edwards never married and died in 1773 in Plaistow, Essex.

Early years[]

George Edwards was born on 3 April 1694 in Stratford, a hamlet that formed part of the village of West Ham in Essex.[2] He had two sisters, Ann and Mary, and a half-brother James Frost.[3] When around six years of age he was sent as a boarder to a school in Leytonstone after which he went to Brentwood Grammar School.[4]

His parents wished him to train to become a merchant and so on leaving school he was apprenticed to John Dod in Fenchurch Street, London with whom he remained for seven years. Dod had a large and varied collection of books which Edwards read avidly. The books inspired him to abandon his business career and to travel. In August 1716 he left London for Holland.[4]

Royal College of Physicians in Warwick Lane in 1677. The entrance to the beadle's house is the second door on the left. Engraved by David Loggan.

Beadle for the Royal College of Physicians[]

In 1733, on the recommendation of Hans Sloane, he was appointed beadle to the Royal College of Physicians in London. The beadle was the administrator of the college and the person in charge of the college property. Edwards styled himself as the "librarian" of the college; one of his duties was to take care of the library.[5] Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum, had employed George Edwards as a natural history painter for some years, and Edwards had draw miniature figures of animals for him. Edwards visited Sloane once a week to share news and a coffee. Sloane kept track of Edwards's expenses and reimbursed him annually. Edwards served as College librarian for thirty-six years. He was chosen Fellow of the Royal Society and of the London Society of Antiquaries.[6]

Ornithology[]

In 1743 Edwards published the first volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, the fourth volume of which appeared in 1751. At the same time he published a French edition of the book. The four parts were published in 1745, 1748, 1751 and 1751. The translator is given on the title page as "traduit de l'Anglais par M. D. de la S. R.". This was David Durand, a French protestant minister and a Fellow of the Royal Society who was living in London.[7][8] Three additional volumes, under the title Gleanings of Natural History, were issued in 1758, 1760 and 1764. The two works contain engravings and descriptions of more than 600 subjects in natural history not before described or delineated. He likewise added a general index in French and English, which was afterwards supplied with Linnaean names by Linnaeus himself, with whom he corresponded.

The Royal Society awarded him the Copley Medal in 1750 with the citation: "On account of a very curious Book lately published by him, and intiyled, A Natural History of Birds, &c. - containing the Figures elegantly drawn, and illuminated in their proper colours, of 209 different Birds, and about 20 very rare Quadrupeds, Serpents."[9] This was a significant honour. The clockmaker John Harrison had been awarded the medal the previous year for his invention of a chronometer suitable for calculating longitude while at sea.[10] Edwards included a picture of the medal on the overall title page in the first volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds and an explanation in the preface.[11]

About 1764 he retired to Plaistow, Essex, still a rural village, where he later died at the age of 77.[6] He also wrote Essays of Natural History (1770).

Edwards's plates appeared in Johann Seligmann's Sammlung verschiedener ausländischer und seltener Vögel, 1749. Some of the colour plates in his Natural History of Birds were painted by Peter Paillou.

Eponyms[]

Diadophis punctatus edwardsii, a subspecies of North American snake, is named in honor of George Edwards.[12] The puffadder shyshark, first described by Edwards in 1760,[13] is now named Haploblepharus edwardsii.

Gallery[]

Works[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Hill Collection — 18th c. British authors & artists". Ornithology Collections in the Libraries at Cornell University: A Descriptive Guide. Cornell University Library. 1999. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  2. ^ Robson 1776, p. 1.
  3. ^ Mason 1992, p. 57.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Edwards 1747, p. 121.
  5. ^ Mason 1992, p. 10.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Holl, William; Wood, Neville; Mammatt, Edward, editor (1836). "Memoir of Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum". The Analyst. Simpkin and Marshall. 5: 3–20 [13–14].
  7. ^ Mason 1992, pp. 19–20.
  8. ^ Edwards 1745–1751.
  9. ^ "Award winners : Copley Medal". Royal Society. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  10. ^ Mason 1992, p. 23.
  11. ^ Edwards 1743, Title page.
  12. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). "Edwards, G.". The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5.
  13. ^ Edwards 1760, pp. 169–170, Plate 289.
  14. ^ Edwards 1743, Plate 5.
  15. ^ Edwards 1743, Plate 23.
  16. ^ Edwards 1750, Plate 117.
  17. ^ Edwards 1750, Plate 123.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Edwards, George". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Sources[]

Further reading[]

External links[]

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