John Templeton (botanist)

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John Templeton (1766–1825) was a pioneering Irish naturalist, sometimes referred to as the "Father of Irish Botany". He was a leading figure in Belfast's late eighteenth century enlightenment: he attached himself to democratic programme of the United Irishmen, and figured prominently in the town's scientific and literary societies.

Family[]

Templeton was born in Belfast in 1766, the son of James Templeton, a prosperous wholesale merchant, and his wife Mary Eleanor, daughter of Benjamin Legg, a sugar refiner. The family resided in a 17th century country house to the south of the town, which been named Orange Grove in honour of William of Orange who had stopped at the house en route to his victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.[1]

Until the age of 16 Templeton attended a progressive, co-educational, school favoured by the town's liberal, largely Presbyterian, merchant class. Schoolmaster David Manson sought to exclude "drudgery and fear" by combining classroom instruction with play and experiential learning.[2] Templeton counted among his schoolfellows brother and sister Henry Joy and Mary Ann McCracken, and maintained a warm friendship with them throughout his life.[3]

In 1799, Templeton married Katherine Johnson of Seymour Hill. Her family had been touched by the United Irish rebellion the previous year: her brother-in-law, Henry Munro, commander of the United army at the Battle of Ballynahinch, had been hanged.[3] The couple had five children: Ellen, born on 30 September 1800, Robert, born on 12 December 1802, Catherine, born on 19 July 1806, Mary, born on 9 December 1809 and Matilda on 2 November 1813.

The union between the two already prosperous merchant families provided more than ample means enabling Templeton to devote himself passionately to the study of natural history.

United Irishman[]

Like many of his liberal Presbyterian peers in Belfast, Templeton was sympathetic to the programme and aims of the Society United Irishmen, established in 1791 amidst the town's ongoing celebration of the French Revolution. It was several years, however, before his support for Catholic Emancipation and for a democratic reform of the Irish Parliament in Dublin, persuaded him to take the United Irish "test" or pledge. In March 1797 his friend, Mary Ann McCracken, wrote to her brother:[4]

[A] certain Botanical friend of ours whose steady and inflexible mind is invulnerable to any other weapon but reason, and only to be moved by conviction has at last turned his attention from the vegetable kingdom to the human species and after pondering the matter for some months, is at last determined to become what he ought to have been months ago.

She hoped his sisters would "soon follow him." Having committed himself to the patriotic union of Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, Templeton changed the name of the family home from loyalist Orange Grove to Irish "Cranmore" (crann mór, 'big tree').

Templeton was not involved in the Rebellion of 1798, and was repelled by the violence.[5] He nonetheless withdrew from the Belfast Literary Society, of which he had been a founding member in 1801, rather than accept the continued presence of Dr. James MacDonnell. MacDonnell's offence had been to subscribe forty guineas in 1803 for the capture (leading to execution) of the unreformed rebel Thomas Russell who had been their mutual friend.[6]

Botanist[]

Plants in the tropical house in the Botanic Gardens, Belfast

John Templeton's interest in botany began with an experimental garden laid out according to a suggestion in Rousseau's 'Nouvelle Heloise' and following Rousseau's 'Letters on the Elements of Botany'. Here he cultivated many tender exotics out of doors and began botanical studies which lasted throughout his life and corresponded with the most eminent botanists in England Sir William Hooker, William Turner, James Sowerby and, especially Sir Joseph Banks, who had travelled on Captain James Cook's voyages, and in charge of Kew Gardens. Banks tried (unsuccessfully) to tempt him to New Holland (Australia) as a botanist on the Flinders's Expedition with the offer of a large tract of land and a substantial salary. An associate of the Linnean Society, Templeton visited London and saw the botanical work being achieved there. This led to his promotion of the Belfast Botanic Gardens as early as 1809, and to work on a Catalogue of Native Irish Plants, in manuscript form and now in the Royal Irish Academy, which was used as an accurate foundation for later work by succeeding Irish botanists. He also assembled text and executed many beautiful watercolour drawings for a Flora Hibernica, sadly never finished, and kept a detailed journal during the years 1806–1825 (both now in the Ulster Museum, Belfast).[1] Of the 12000 algal specimens in the Ulster Museum Herbarium about 148 are in the Templeton collection and were mostly collected by him, some were collected by others and passed to Templeton. The specimens in the Templeton collection in the Ulster Museum (BEL) have been catalogued. Those noted in 1967 were numbered: F1 – F48.[7] Others were in The Queen's University Belfast.[8] Queens University Belfast All of Templeton's specimens have now been numbered in the Ulster Museum as follows: F190 – F264; F290 – F314 and F333 – F334. Templeton was the first finder of Rosa hibernica (1795) and in Ireland of Sisymbrium Ligusticum seoticum (1793), Adoxa moschatellina (1820), Orobanche rubra and many other plants.

Natural History of Ireland[]

Naturalist's Report in Belfast Monthly Magazine 1811

John Templeton had wide-ranging scientific interests including chemistry as it applied to agriculture and horticulture, meteorology and phenology following Robert Marsham. He published very little aside from monthly reports on natural history and meteorology in the 'Belfast Magazine' commenced in 1808. John Templeton studied birds extensively, collected shells, marine organisms (especially zoophytes and insects, notably garden pest species. He planned a 'Hibernian Fauna' to accompany 'Hibernian Flora'. This was not published, even in part, but A catalogue of the species annulose animals and of rayed ones found in Ireland as selected from the papers of the late J Templeton Esq. of Cranmore with localities, descriptions, and illustrations Mag. Nat. Hist. 9: 233- 240; 301 305; 417–421; 466 -472 and 1837. Irish vertebrate animals selected from the papers of the late. John Templeton Esq., Mag. Nat. Hist . 1: (n. s. ): 403–413 403 -413 were (collated and edited By Robert Templeton). Much of his work was used by later authors, especially by William Thompson whose 'Natural History of Ireland' is its essential continuation.

Rayed Animals found in Ireland Page237

Death and legacy[]

Never of strong constitution, he was not expected to survive,[9] he was in failing health from 1815 and died in 1825 aged only 60, "leaving a sorrowing wife, youthful family and many friends and townsmen who greatly mourned his death". The Australian leguminous genus Templetonia is named for him.

In 1810 Templeton had supported the veteran United Irishman, William Drennan, in the foundation of the Belfast Academical Institution. With the staff and scholars of the Institution's early Collegiate Department, he then helped form the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society (the origin of both the Botanical Gardens and what is now the Ulster Museum).

Although always ready to communicate his own findings, Templeton did not publish much. Robert Lloyd Praeger (1865-1953), editor of the Irish Naturalist and President of the Royal Irish Academy, described him nonetheless as "the most eminent naturalist Ireland has produced".[3]

Templeton's son, Robert Templeton (1802-1892), educated at the Belfast Academical Institution (which was eventually to acquire Cranmore House), became an entomologist renowned for his work on Sri Lankan arthropods.

Contacts[]

Other[]

John Templeton maintained a natural history cabinet containing specimens from Calobar, New Holland and The Carolinas and he used a microscope. His library included Rees's Cyclopædia and works by Carl Linnaeus, Edward Donovan and William Swainson s:Zoological Illustrations

The standard author abbreviation Templeton is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[10]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "BBC Radio Ulster - Hidden History, Series 1, Cromac Woods - from the Sweet Stream to Cranmore, Hidden History: Cranmore". BBC. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  2. ^ Drennan, William (February 1811). "Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Persons: David Manson". The Belfast Monthly. 6: 126–132.
  3. ^ a b c Byrne, Patricia (2009). "Templeton, John | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  4. ^ McNeill, Mary (1960). The Life and Times of Mary Ann McCracken, 1770–1866. Dublin: Allen Figgis & Co. p. 126.
  5. ^ Newman, Kate. "John Templeton (1766 - 1825): Botanist and zoologist". www.newulsterbiography.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  6. ^ Whelan, Fergus (2020). May Tyrants Tremble: The Life of William Drennan, 1754–1820. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. pp. 254, 258–259. ISBN 9781788551212.
  7. ^ Pilcher, B. 1967 The algae of John Templeton in the Ulster Museum. Irish Naturalists' Journal 15: 350 – 353
  8. ^ Kertland, M.P.H. 1967 The specimens of Templeton's algae in the Queen's University Herbarium. Irish Naturalists' Journal 15:318 – 322
  9. ^ Deane, C.D. 1983. The Ulster Countryside. Century Books. ISBN 0-903152-17-7
  10. ^ IPNI.  Templeton.

General references[]

  • Thomas Dix Hincks Biography of J. Templeton, Esq. The Magazine of Natural History (Loudon) 1828 Volume 1: 403–406 continued 1829 Volume 2: 305–310 [2]
  • Kertland, M.P.H. 1966. Bi-centenary of the birth of John Templeton, A.L.S. 1766–1825. Irish Naturalists' Journal 15 :229 -232. Pl.4.
  • Kertland, M.P.H. 1967. The specimens of Templeton's algae in the Queen's University Herbarium. Irish Naturalists' Journal 15: 318 – 322.
  • Pilcher, B. 1967. The algae of John Templeton in the Ulster Museum. Irish Naturalist Journals' 15: 350 – 353.
  • Praeger, R.L.,1950 Some Irish Naturalists. W. Tempest, Dundalgan Press, Dundalk.
  • Ross, H.C.G. and Nash, R. 1985. The development of natural history in early nineteenth century Ireland. Linnaeus to Darwin: commentaries on the history of biology and geology. Society for the History of Natural History, London. 1985.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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