Edgar Thurston

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Edgar Thurston
CIE
Superintendent of the Madras Government Museum and Connemara Public Library
In office
1885–1908[1]
Preceded byGeorge Bidie
Succeeded byJohn Robertson Henderson
Personal details
Born1855
Died1935
zoologist, anthropologist
The title page of the first volume of Castes and Tribes of Southern India (1909).

Edgar Thurston

CIE (1855– 12 October 1935) was the British Superintendent at the Madras Government Museum from 1885 to 1908 who contributed to research studies in the fields of zoology, ethnology and botany of India, and later also published his works at the museum. Thurston was educated in medicine and lectured in anatomy at the Madras Medical College while simultaneously holding a senior position at the museum. His early works were on numismatics and geology, and these were later followed by researches in anthropology and ethnography. He succeeded Frederick S. Mullaly as the Superintendent of Ethnography for the Madras Presidency.[2]

Early life

Edgar Thurston was the son of Charles Bosworth Thurston of

King's College, London, qualifying as LRCP in 1877. He worked as a medical officer in Kent County Lunatic Asylum and became a curator of the museum at King's College before joining the Madras Museum in 1885 as a superintendent.[3]

Ethnography and geography

Whereas early European ideas on

Bertillon system had already been incorporated in the Bengal and Madras Police departments by the 1890s and Thurston's training was intended to help the police identify membership of what were then termed as "criminal castes".[2][4]

In 1901, Thurston was appointed to the Ethnographic Survey of India project, established at that time following the success of Herbert Hope Risley's Ethnographic Survey of Bengal.[5] Risley was an adherent to the theories of scientific racism and had been appointed as director of Ethnology in India. Thurston worked as a part of this project to collect accurate anthropometric measurements. These included a number of measurements of the skull and derived indices or proportions such as the nasal index.[6] He did this work alongside his role as superintendent of the Madras Museum, a position that he did not leave until 1908.[7]

Among other published works, Thurston wrote the seven volumes of

Nature
described the 1909 publication as

a monumental record of the varied phases of south Indian tribal life, the traditions, manners and customs of people. Though in some respects it may be corrected or supplemented by future research it will long retain its value as an example of out-door investigation, and will remain a veritable mine of information, which will be of value.[5]

Thurston also authored The Madras Presidency, with Mysore Coorg, and the associated States, being the third volume of the four-volume series "Provincial Geographies of India" which was published between 1913–23 by the Cambridge University Press under the editorship of Thomas Henry Holland which included physical information and ethnographic notes.[8]

Botany and zoology

Thurston made numerous collections of plant and animals specimens, many of which were sent to the

Mobula thurstoni (Lloyd, 1908), and Ecteinascidia thurstoni (Herdman, 1890).[11] Also, a species of Indian snake, Gerrhopilus thurstoni (Boettger, 1890), is named in his honor.[12]

The standard author abbreviation E.Thurst. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[13]

Museum and art

Aside from his role at the Madras Museum, Thurston was for some time Honorary Secretary to the now-defunct Fine Arts Society of Madras and was influential in promoting the artistic works of Raja Ravi Varma and his brother C. Raja Raja Varma.[14]

Later life

Thurston was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal, first class, on 26 June 1902.[15] He was made C.I.E. in 1909. He retired to England and spent his winters at Penzance where he studied the local plants and regularly hosted a New Year party for the local botanists. He died on 12 October 1935 at Penzance.[3]

Works

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 978-0-23153-851-0
    .
  2. ^
    Dirks, Nicholas B. (1996). "Reading Culture: Anthropology and the Textualization of India". In Daniel, E. V.; Peck, J. M. (eds.). Culture/Contexture: Explorations in Anthropology and Literary Studies
    . University of California Press. pp. 281–286.
  3. ^ a b "Noted botanist's death at Penzance". Cornishman. 17 October 1935. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ Pels, P.; Salemink, O. (2000). Colonial Subjects: Essays on the Practical History of Anthropology. University of Michigan Press. pp. 163–167.
  5. ^ a b c Vundru, Raja Sekhar (24 January 2010). "Mosaic of communities". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  6. ISBN 978-0-19-563767-0
    . Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  7. ISBN 0-691-08895-0
    .
  8. ISBN 978-81-250-2586-3
    .
  9. ^ Jackson, W. L. (1891). Statement of the progress made in the arrangement and description of the collections and an account of objects added to them in the year 1890. British Museum, London. pp. 114, 115, 121.
  10. ^ "Science Notes". Liverpool Mercury: 7. 29 November 1888 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names: T and U". Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  12. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
    . ("Thurston", p. 265).
  13. ^ International Plant Names Index.  E.Thurst.
  14. ISBN 978-0-52144-354-8
    .
  15. ^ The India List and Office List. India Office. 1905. p. 172. Retrieved 11 November 2011.

Further reading

External links

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