Aylmer Bourke Lambert

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"Lamb." redirects here. For other uses, see Lamb.

Aylmer Bourke Lambert, 1810 engraving
Aylmer Bourke Lambert
Born
Aylmer Bourke Lambert

(1761-02-02)2 February 1761
Died10 January 1842(1842-01-10) (aged 80)
Pinus halepensis
from
'Description of the Genus Pinus'

Aylmer Bourke Lambert (2 February 1761 – 10 January 1842) was a British

Linnean Society
.

Early life

Aylmer Bourke Lambert was born at

Bath, England on 2 February 1761, the son of Edmund Lambert of Boyton House and Bridget Bourke who was the daughter of the 8th Viscount Mayo. Lambert's mother died in 1773, the same year that he started school and through her family he inherited estates in Jamaica and Ireland.[1] Lambert went to Newcome's School for the sons of gentlemen at Hackney,[1]
and then attended Oxford University for three years.

Writings

He is best known for his work A description of the

conifers then known. A second folio edition was produced between 1828 and 1837, and a third, smaller (octavo
) edition in 1832. Individual books even of the same edition are often very different from one another, which causes problems when the illustrations have been used as types to fix the application of names. A full description of the publication history is given in: Renkema, H. W. & Ardagh, J. (1930). Aylmer Bourke Lambert and his 'Description of the Genus Pinus'. Journal of the Linnean Society of London – Botany 48: 439–466.

Many of the new conifers discovered by

Coast Redwood, were described for the first time in Lambert's books; several of these were actually described by collaborating authors, notably David Don
, who included their work in Lambert's book.

Herbarium

Lambert acquired a number of significant herbarium collections including those of

Major Francis Grose and Philip Gidley King.[3]

Lambert's collection of 50,000 preserved plant specimens,

De Candolle, Martius, George Don and David Don.[1] It was auctioned following his death in 317 lots and specimens can be found in botanical collections around the world.[1]

Linnean Society

Lambert was one of the founding fellows of the Linnean Society in 1788.[4] In 1796 Lambert was appointed by James Edward Smith as one of the four vice-presidents of the Linnean Society of London. He held this position until his death in 1842.[1]

Royal Society

In 1791, Lambert was elected to the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge and Joseph Banks made him a member of its Council in 1810.[5]

"He was a friend and correspondent of Sir Joseph Banks, and took a great interest in the botanical and zoological discoveries emerging from New Holland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as they were transmitted back to London, whether as living or dead specimens, as seeds, or as drawings. Lambert compiled the collection from Surgeon General John White's specimens and drawings brought from Sydney to London in 1795."[6]

Honours and memorials

Lambert is honoured in the scientific name of the

Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana), the genus Lambertia, and the variegated fairywren (Malurus lamberti). The standard botanical author abbreviation Lamb. is applied to species
he described.

References

  1. ^
    JSTOR 1218947
    .
  2. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1960.tb01195.x
    .
  3. ^ "TAL & Dai-ichi Life (Earl of Derby) collection of natural history watercolours". State Library New South Wales. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  4. ^ Boulger, George Symonds (1885), "Lambert, Aylmer Bourke", Dictionary of national biography, London: Smith, Elder, pp. 6–7, retrieved 17 December 2013
  5. ^ "Aylmer Bourke Lambert". Rare books from the MGB Library. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  6. ^ "TAL & Dai-ichi Life Derby collection of natural history watercolours, 1790s / compiled by Aylmer Bourke Lambert ; acquired by the 13th Earl of Derby". Catalogue. State Library of NSW. Retrieved 20 January 2014.

Bibliography

External links

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Aylmer Bourke Lambert
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aylmer Bourke Lambert.
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