Section of map detailing Canis Minor, picturing Orion with his two faithful dogs from Malby’s Telescopic Companion or Celestial Globe-Atlas in XXI sheets by John Addison. Exhibiting the whole of the stars contained in the catalogues of Piazzi, Bradley, Hevelius, Mayer, Lacaille and Johnson. The double stars marked from Herschel and Struve. Corrected from Baily’s edition of Flamsteed’s British Catalogue. With additions carefully collated from the observations of the most esteemed British and Foreign astronomers together with the nebulae observed by W. Herschel and Sir J. Herschel (London, 1843) (Rare Books, RB Folio 523.89 MAL)
Malby’s Telescopic Companion or Celestial Globe-Atlas was published by the map and globe makers Malby & Co. in January, 1843. This handsome volume, with ornate gilt-decorated cloth binding, contains a set of twenty one striking double-page colour plates depicting the stars and constellations in the sky, as recorded by the many renowned astronomers who had identified and listed the stars throughout history.
The constellations into which the sky of the northern hemisphere has traditionally been divided were originally described by the Ancient Greeks, who likened each constellation to a mythological figure or sign of the zodiac, although the Latin forms of their names, rather than the Greek, have traditionally been used. The plates in Malby’s globe-atlas carry colourful artistic representations of these figures. This plate depicts the constellations Canes Venatici, Bootes and Ursa Major. The Canes Venatici (“hunting dogs”), Asterion and Chara, are held on a leash by Bootes the herdsman as they chase the Great Bear (Ursa Major), whose tail can be seen disappearing off to the left of the picture.
Malby’s globe-atlas actually served a dual purpose, as the atlas could either be used in its original form as a book or the sheets could be cut out and joined together according to the instructions provided to create a three-dimensional globe. The firm Malby & Co., established by Thomas Malby in c. 1839, was known for producing maps and globes of varying types and sizes, including table and pocket globes, and associated itself with the geographical publishing of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK).
The volume is apparently exceedingly rare; the British Library lists only a copy of the 1845 edition in its holdings and no other copies of this particular edition, which appears to be the first, are listed anywhere else.
Adding to its interest, the volume carries the bookplate of Hugh Lee Pattinson, the eminent metallurgical chemist and industrialist from the North-East of England who discovered the process of separating silver from lead, later known as the Pattinson Process. He was also the great grandfather of Gertrude Bell. The Latin motto on his coat of arms reads Ex Vile Pretiosa which means “Valuable things from base things”, an allusion to his momentous discovery.
Drawing of Florence Nightingale from The Life of Florence Nightingale (Volume One) by E. T. Cook (Pybus (Professor Frederick Charles) Collection, Pyb L.i.35)
The 13th August 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Florence Nightingale. Florence was an English nurse who became famous while looking after injured soldiers during the Crimean War.
Florence was from an upper-class Victorian family and was frustrated by her sheltered upbringing. She wanted to pursue an education and aged sixteen she felt a calling from God to become a nurse. In the Mid-Nineteenth Century nursing was an occupation on a par with domestic service and her parents were horrified by her decision. Undeterred she went to Germany to carry out her training.
At the same time anger was mounting about the suffering of British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War. Florence was sent to Scutari in Turkey to head a team of female nurses. In letters home, she described the appalling conditions. Four times as many were dying from infection and disease as in battle. The death rates were high until the Sanitary Commission arrived and flushed out the sewers upon which the hospital was built.
As head nurse, Florence ran a tight ship. She instilled discipline in her nurses and introduced uniforms and a strict curfew. She also took on tasks that went beyond her duty, but increased her popularity with the soldiers, such as writing letters of condolence to relatives and setting up a banking system that allowed soldiers to send money home.
However, Florence Nightingale the woman and Florence Nightingale the legend were two very different people. The legend was born on 24th February 1855, when the Illustrated London News published an engraving of her holding a lamp in a hospital ward while tending to injured soldiers.
The public couldn’t get enough of the story of the beautiful, caring young woman who was risking her life in a warzone. An industry sprung up producing statuettes, figurines and posters, mainly by artists who had never seen her! Songs and poems were written describing her efforts in tending for the sick and the dying soldiers. The media frenzy was so great that when Florence arrived back in England in August 1856, she had to travel under the pseudonym Miss Smith, so that she could return to her family home without drawing attention!
Florence, however, detested her celebrity status. She felt that the legend that had been created around her hid what she was trying to achieve. The idea of fame was different in the 19th Century – it was associated with criminals and travelling entertainers so it is not surprising that Florence didn’t exactly bask in it.
However, it was the Florence of legend that allowed the real Florence to make the changes she had dreamt of. Government ministers were aware of her popularity and felt they couldn’t refuse her. Using public money donated in her honour, she set up the Nightingale School for nurses. In 1860 her Notes on Nursing, which advised ordinary women on how to care for relatives, became a bestseller. She used her fame to campaign for reforms in many areas of health and throughout her life wrote 200 books, pamphlets and articles, and more than 14,000 letters, campaigning for improvements until her death.
Illustration of Grace Darling from Grace Darling and her times by Constance Smedley (Clarke (Edwin) Local Collection, Clarke 1707)
Florence’s experience of unwanted fame echoes that of an earlier Victorian heroine, Grace Darling. Grace grew-up on the Farne Islands where her father was a lighthouse keeper. On 7th September 1838, along with her father, she saved nine people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire. The ship had crashed on the rocks and in the early hours of the morning Grace spotted the wreck and survivors from the lighthouse. She and her father took a rowing boat across to the wreck and Grace kept it steady while her father helped the survivors in.
News of the rescue was reported by the local newspapers who cast Grace in a heroic light. The myth began to take shape as journalists competed to create the most exciting account of events. It was reported that Grace was awoken by the cries of the survivors, which would have been an impressive feat given the noise of the gale-force wind blowing outside at the time, as her sister Thomasina later commented! It was also suggested that Grace forced her father to take the boat out regardless of the risks. It is highly unlikely that Grace would have disobeyed her father and in turn William Darling, an experienced seaman, would never have taken such a chance if he felt their own lives would be at risk.
The media frenzy which surrounded Grace was akin to that which we associate with modern-day celebrities. But with a young girl as Queen the press wanted female heroines. Soon her image could be found on trinkets, plates, postcards, chocolates and even soap boxes! Even William Wordsworth wrote a poem about her in 1843. Grace received letters requesting locks of her hair and scraps of the dress she wore during the rescue. Pressure also came from the Victorian paparazzi; the portrait artists. In a letter to the press five weeks after the rescue, her father requested that other painters take their likenesses from one of the seven paintings already completed!
Grace’s story became popular as it fitted in well with the romanticism of the Victorian period. All of the elements, the fact that she lived on a remote island, was beautiful and obedient and had such an angelic name, created an enchanting story. Fiction writers would have struggled to create a character that embodied the ideal Victorian woman in the way that Grace did.
A number of books were written about Grace. Grace Darling, or the Maid of the Isles by Jerrold Vernon, gave birth to the legend ‘of the girl with windswept hair’. This is particularly amusing as Grace went out in the boat with her hair in curling-rags! It could be argued that it was the ordinariness of Grace’s life as a lighthouse keeper’s daughter, which led to the creation of the myths. Journalists felt they had to invent stories about Grace to ensure she lived up to her reputation as a heroine.
Tragically, Grace died of tuberculosis in 1842, aged 26. However, the Grace Darling story continued long after her death. If she had married and grown old, she would no longer have been the girl of the legend. Through her untimely death she was immortalised as the brave and beautiful heroine she never wanted to be.
Drawing of a microscope from Hooke, R. Micrographia, or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses: with observations and inquiries thereupon. (London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665) (Pybus (Professor Frederick) Collection, Pyb. R.iii.2)
“The most ingenious book that I ever read in my life.” Samuel Pepys (diary, 21st January 1665).
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was a natural philosopher and architect: he was curator of experiments for the Royal Society, Gresham Professor of Geometry, was chief assistant to Christopher Wren (the method by which the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral was constructed was conceived by Hooke), Surveyor to the City of London following the Great Fire and indeed devised a set of planning controls for London which have retained some relevance.
He has been described as an irascible and querulous man and he fell into dispute with Isaac Newton over who should take credit for work on gravitation. His reputation suffered and it was only in the Twentieth Century that he was repositioned as one of the most important scientists of the Seventeenth Century.
Hooke’s Micrographia was the first major publication of the Royal Society and, capturing public imagination in a radically new way, became the first scientific best seller. The book includes planetary bodies, the origin of fossils and the wave theory of light but its main focus, and what was so exciting, were the descriptions and magnificent copperplate engravings of the things which he observed through a microscope – the stinger of a bee, the eyes of flies, seeds, and so forth. A previously invisible microscopic world was revealed. Micrographia is also notable for Hooke’s invention of the biological term ‘cell’ after walled plant cells reminded him of monks’ quarters.
Drawing of a blue fly from Hooke, R. Micrographia, or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses: with observations and inquiries thereupon. (London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665) (Pybus (Professor Frederick) Collection, Pyb. R.iii.2)
The plates shown here (below) depict Hooke’s microscope; a hairy mould, “multitudes of which [Hooke] found to bespeck & whiten over the red covers of a small book, which, it seems, were of Sheeps-skin, that being more apt to gather mould, even in a dry and clean room, then other leathers” and a blue fly, which he describes as “a very beautifull creature“.
Drawing of mould on Hooke’s plate from Hooke, R. Micrographia, or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses: with observations and inquiries thereupon. (London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665) (Pybus (Professor Frederick) Collection, Pyb. R.iii.2)
The edition held in Special Collections is part of the Pybus Collection of c.2,000 books which had been brought together by local medic and surgeon, Professor Frederick Charles Pybus (1883-1975). It has the armorial bookplate of The Right Honourable Francis Lord Brooke on the front pastedown and ms annotations on the title page.
The ascension of King George V from Royal Silver Jubilee of their majesties King George V and Queen Mary: 6th May, 1935(Clarke (Edwin) Local Collection, Clarke 1936)
“I cannot understand it, after all I am only a very ordinary sort of fellow.“
King George V in response to the cheering crowds at his Silver Jubilee in 1935.
The 6th May 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the ascension to the British throne of King George V. The image shows his coronation in 1911. It is taken from a souvenir booklet that was produced by Newcastle City Council for the King’s Silver Jubilee in 1935.
George was never meant to be King. However, his reign increased the popularity of the monarchy. The British people saw him as a down-to-earth man who sympathised with the hardships faced by the working classes. He was a sailor at heart – he spoke bluntly, talked loudly and enjoyed swearing! He was more common man than Royal and a liberal at heart. During the General Strike of 1926 the King disagreed with suggestions that the strikers were revolutionaries saying, ‘Try living on their wages before you judge them’. The British people felt that he was on their side and it was his very ordinariness that they loved.
George was born on 3rd June 1865. From the age of twelve he served in the Royal Navy. In 1891 his brother, Albert, died of pneumonia shortly after becoming became engaged to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, who was known as May to her family. This left George second in line to the throne and ended his career in the Navy, as he took on more political duties. His grandmother, Queen Victoria, persuaded George to propose to May and they married in 1893.
Although George and May toured the British Empire, George preferred home life where he enjoyed hunting and collecting stamps. They lived in York Cottage at Sandringham, which was small enough so that George could avoid having to entertain! He preferred a quiet life and despised pomp and ceremony.
On 6th May 1910 his father, King Edward VII died, and George ascended to the throne. George’s reign bore witness to a period of upheaval and change, including the First World War, the formation of the first Labour government, strikes and the Depression. During the war, due to anti-German feelings in Britain, George changed the name of the Royal family from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor.
George was disappointed in his heir Prince Edward’s failure to marry and his many love affairs. He prophetically said, ‘After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself within 12 months’. He was however, very fond of his son Albert and doted on his granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth whom he nicknamed Lilibet. He said, ‘I pray to God my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne’.
George died on 20th January 1936. A lifetime of heavy smoking had taken its toll. When he was near death his doctor, Lord Dawson, issued a statement announcing, ‘The King’s life is drawing peacefully to a close’. Dawson’s diary later revealed that he aided the King’s death by giving him a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine.
During the lying in state procession part of the Imperial State Crown fell from the coffin. Many saw this as an omen of the coming disastrous reign of Edward VIII, who abdicated before the end of the year, leaving his brother to ascend to the throne as George VI and eventually little Lilibet who became Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, just as George V had hoped.
Illustration of Hadrian’s Wall by W. Collard from Bruce, J.C. The hand-book to the Roman wall: a guide to tourists traversing the barrier of the lower isthmus, 2nd ed. (London: Smith, 1884) (Rare Books, RB913.428 BRU Quarto)
This image of Hadrian’s Wall is by W. Collard and is from a version of the 1884 book, The hand-book to the Roman wall: a guide to tourists traversing the barrier of the lower isthmus by John Collingwood Bruce. The book belonged to John Oxberry who added illustrations and notes to it.
On 13th March 2010, an event entitled ‘Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall’ lit-up the Roman wall from one end to the other to form a line of light from coast to coast in celebration of the landscape and heritage of Northumberland and showing the scale of Hadrian’s Wall.
Hadrian’s Wall was built on the orders of the Roman Emperor Hadrian around AD130 and was operated, manned and maintained for almost 300 years. It is 73-miles long and runs from Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, on the east coast to Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria, in the west. It is still unclear what purpose lay behind its construction, but it was probably built for defence and in order to define the northern frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain. Much of the length of the wall can be followed on foot and it is the most popular tourist attraction in Northumberland. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Hadrian’s Wall has been a popular attraction for tourists since the Eighteenth Century. Interest in the site initially came about as a result of a new awareness of the importance of the physical remains of the past and interest in the Classical world. This was partly inspired by the ‘Grand Tour of Europe’, which was undertaken by young men from mainly upper-class families from around 1660 onwards. Most tours followed a standard itinerary, which tended to include Italy and which led to an increased interest in the legacy of classical antiquity. Additionally, following the opening of the Military Road in the 1750s, which followed the line of the wall, the uplands of Northumberland became more accessible to visitors.
During the Nineteenth Century, a number of important developments helped to further increase the popularity of the wall with tourists. In 1832, John Clayton, an antiquarian and town clerk in Newcastle upon Tyne, inherited land containing Chesters Roman Fort. Clayton dedicated his life to funding the excavation, protection, and reconstruction of the remains of the wall and, in 1896, a museum at Chesters was constructed to house the collection of Roman objects that he had discovered during his excavations. A number of ‘learned societies’ were also established during this period devoted to the study of antiquities. These societies increased interest in the wall and introduced it to a wider audience. In 1849, the first pilgrimage travelling the full length of the wall was led by John Collingwood Bruce, and in 1863 he published his Handbook of the Roman Wall, which became a popular tourist guide.
The late Nineteenth Century saw the first public acquisition and display of part of the wall by a public authority and 1927 saw the first portion of the wall to be scheduled as an ancient monument. After the Second World War, the beginnings of mass tourism came to the site as increased car ownership and more leisure time brought further visitors and it became more important than ever to protect the wall. Today, many of the sites along the wall have been acquired for the public and are managed and conserved by county councils, trusts and charities.
The 7th March 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Vice-Admiral Collingwood. This image of him is taken from the 1891 biography, Collingwood, by W.C. Russell, which was illustrated by F. Brangwyn.
Cuthbert Collingwood was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1748 and educated at the city’s Royal Grammar School. At the age of eleven he joined the Royal Navy. In 1777, he met Horatio Nelson, when they both served aboard HMS Lowestoffe. They rose through the ranks of the navy together. Despite their ambition there was never any jealousy between them; they were good friends who had a lot of respect for each other.
Collingwood’s career in the navy took him all over Europe, North America and the West Indies. His visits home to the northeast of England were few and far between. He returned to Newcastle in 1791 and married Sarah Blackett. The couple settled in Morpeth, Northumberland and in the next two years, they had two daughters, Sarah and Mary Patience. However, Collingwood was soon back at sea and in fact, of the forty-nine years he spent in the navy, he spent forty-four of them at sea. As a result he saw his wife and daughters infrequently and they hardly knew him.
Collingwood is most famous for his involvement in the Battle of Trafalgar. The battle, which took place on 21st October 1805, was a sea battle between the British and the combined French and Spanish fleet, during the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was the most crucial British naval victory of the wars. Twenty-seven British ships, led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory, defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships off the south-west coast of Spain, near Cape Trafalgar. Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle. History tends to give all the glory to Nelson, but, in fact, Collingwood and Nelson were equal partners. Collingwood actually fired the first shot and as Nelson lay dying, he took control of the battle and defeated the foreign forces. Thanks to him, the British didn’t lose a single ship at Trafalgar, and the country was saved from possible invasion by Napoleon’s army.
Collingwood was devoted to his country and dedicated his life to protecting it in more than one way. When he was at home in Morpeth he planted acorns whenever he spotted a good place for an oak tree to grow. It took almost 3,000 oak trees to build HMS Victory and he wanted to ensure that the British had enough oak in order to build ships to defend the country in the future.
Despite his time away from home Collingwood remained very fond of his Northumberland roots. Sadly he was never to return to his family after the Battle of Trafalgar. His health was suffering and he appealed to the Admiralty for permission to return to home for several years. On 3rd March 1810, he finally received his release orders and departed from Port Mahon in Minorca on the Ville de Paris. However, he died aboard the ship on the evening of 7th March 1810, before reaching England. He was taken to lie in state in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, before being buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral, beside the tomb of his friend Nelson.
Designs of coloured ornaments for panels from The Builder’s Magazine: or Monthly Companion for Architects, Carpenters, Masons, Bricklayers, &c.… by A Society of Architects (London: Printed for the Authors; and Sold by F. Newbery …, 1774) (18th Century Collection, 18th C. Coll. 720.942 BUI)
The Builder’s Magazine has been kindly donated to the University Library’s Special Collections by Dr Hendrik (Hentie) Louw of Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.
In the preface, it is explained that “a set of Gentlemen have formed themselves into a Society to promote the improvement of Architecture” and to increase the intellectual output of the profession. Furthermore, they will take a different approach from that of other publications: “Architects, in general, have, in their publications, considered the magnificence of building, rather than its use; it shall be our task to unite both; for Architecture cannot be more grand than it is useful; nor is its dignity more to be considered than its convenience“.
It begins with an alphabetical glossary to building terms (in this volume from ABACUS to BRIDGES:
ABREUVOIR, OR ABREVOIR, in Masonry, signifies the joint or juncture of two stones, or the space or interstice to be filled up with mortar or cement.
ARAEOSTYLE, a term used by Vitruvius, to signify the greatest interval or distance which can be made between columns; which consists of eight modules, or four diameters.
Place BRICKS are made of the same earth, or worse; with a mixture of dirt from the streets; and these are often so very bad they will hardly hold together …
There then follows a series of plates, with explanations, including an elevation for a garden building of the Ionic order, designs for iron work for balconies, a plan for a town house, brick and stone arches, a section of a hospital and the coloured ornamented panels shown here.
John Carter (1748-1817) was educated in Battersea and Kennington. He started out working as an artist for his father but went on to be apprenticed under a surveyor and also to work as a draughtsman and illustrator. In the course of his career he was influenced by such important patrons as John Soane and Horace Walpole. He illustrated The Builder’s Magazine from 1774 until 1786. Commissioned by the Society of Antiquaries, he surveyed a number of ecclesiastical buildings, including Durham Cathedral, for a series of published drawings which attempted to be the first accurate, measured drawings of English religious buildings. He also contributed to the Gentleman’s Magazine which he used as a vehicle for expressing his controversial views on “inappropriate restoration” and the destruction of ancient monuments.
This particular copy of The Builder’s Magazine has the inscription of James Hedley, Meldon, Northumberland April 1st 1842 on the front pastedown and an ink drawing of a bird.
The Quartier Latin. Vol. IV, no. 20, 22; vol. V, no. 27-28; vol. VI, no. 29-30 1898-1899 (London: [Iliffe & Son], 1896-) (19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 052 QUA)
TheQuartier Latin was produced by Americans residing in the Latin Quarter of Paris, on the Left Bank of the River Seine in the late Nineteenth Century and sold in France, America and Britain. It is now quite a scarce periodical and represents an important period in the history of American art.
Issues typically contain full-page illustrations and Art Nouveau advertisements by such contributors as Ernest Haskell (1876-1925) who had studied under James McNeill Whistler and who specialised in etchings and watercolour posters; William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) who championed Impressionism; F. Luis Mora (1874-1940) who specialised in scenes of American and Spanish life and Henry O. Tanner (1859-1937) who was an African-American known for his portraits and depictions of religious subjects. The periodical also carried poetry and prose.
At the time, France was considered to be the focal point of the world’s artistic community – a locus for artistic training and output. Americans flocked to Paris to study in the academies and to stage exhibitions in the salons.
The March 1898 issue, the cover of which is shown here, includes an advertisement designed by H.G. Fangel for Glendenning’s Beef and Malt Wine, a sample bottle of which was available from Glendenning & Son, Grainger Street, Newcastle.
‘Christmas in the Olden Time’ engraving of Wycoller Hall from Fisher’s drawing room scrap-book, 1836. With poetical illustrations by L. E. L. (London, 1835) (19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 820.5 FIS)
This engraving is one of a series featured in Fisher’s drawing room scrap-book (1835). Captioned Christmas in the Olden Time, the Victorian image portrays a whimsical and romantic view of festive celebrations as they might have taken place at Wycoller Hall, Lancashire, in 1650.
Keeping scrap books was a popular past-time for the middle classes in the nineteenth century. Many types of medium were considered worthy of being kept in scrap books, including newspaper clippings, engraved pictures and “scraps” themselves, which were printed pieces of paper carrying ornate designs in relief, often depicting childhood scenes, flora or fauna.
The mid-nineteenth century saw the publication of ornate leather-bound albums containing pre-printed pages on a variety of themes; some included pockets in which to put photographs or blank pages on which to sketch or paint, as in the case of Fisher’s scrap-book, which contains engravings and poetry interspersed with blank pages.
The poetry in Fisher’s scrap-book was composed by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (often known as “L.E.L.”) who composed her pieces to complement the engraved images which were submitted for inclusion in the publication.
As for Wycoller Hall, the building still stands, but in a ruinous state. Home to the Cunliffe family, it was built in the late sixteenth century but gradually fell into disrepair after being passed to the creditors of Henry Owen Cunliffe in 1818 after his death. The hall is widely believed to have been the inspiration for Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, as the Brontë family lived in the nearby village of Haworth and eye-witness accounts gathered in 1901 from elderly residents of the surrounding Wycoller Village recollected the Brontë sisters visiting the area.
Landon composed a poem entitled Christmas in the Olden Time to accompany this engraving, and she prefaced her poem with the following quotation – allegedly from a Cunliffe family manuscript – describing a festive feast:
“At Wycoller Hall the family usually kept open house the twelve days at Christmas. Their entertainment was a large hall of curious ashlar work, a long table, plenty of furmenty like new milk, in a morning, made of husked wheat, boiled and roasted beef, with a fat goose, and a pudding, with plenty of good beer for dinner.”
Title p[age of Thompson, John Vaughan, A catalogue of plants growing in the vicinity of Berwick upon Tweed (London, 1807) (Grey Tracts Vol. 78)
This decorative title page is the frontispiece to A Catalogue of Plants Growing in the Vicinity of Berwick upon Tweed, by J. V. Thompson, published in 1807.
John Vaughan Thompson (1779-1847) was born and grew up in Berwick. He studied Medicine at Edinburgh from 1797-98, reading anatomy, surgery, midwifery and botany. He compiled the Catalogue during this early period of his life; it displays an extensive knowledge of the plants of his native Berwick and features a small number of striking hand-coloured engravings, apparently drawn by Thompson himself. The quotation used on the title page is from Tweedside, a traditional local song by Robert Crawford.
The Catalogue was not published until 1807. In the mean time, from 1799 onwards, Thompson had begun an adventurous career as an army surgeon, travelling to Guiana, the West Indies, Mauritius and Madagascar, all the while keeping up his botanical studies and also developing a keen interest in the fields of natural history and marine biology.
In 1816 he published a second catalogue: A Catalogue of the Exotic Plants Cultivated in the Mauritius, echoing his work on the flora of Berwick – a place which we might imagine seemed a world away as he conducted his researches and compiled his lists in those tropical climes.
Over the years Thompson also made several fundamental contributions to natural history and marine biology, including the description of a new species of pouched rat on Trinidad and his revolutionary re-evaluation of barnacles as crustacea rather than molluscs, declared by Charles Darwin to have been “a capital discovery”.
Thompson died in Sydney, Australia, a few years after retiring from his last professional post as Medical Officer in charge of the convict settlements of New South Wales.
