John Richardson (naturalist)

Sir John Richardson

Richardson was born at Nith Place in Dumfries the son of Gabriel Richardson, Provost of Dumfries, and his wife, Anne Mundell. He was educated at Dumfries Grammar School. He was then apprenticed to his maternal uncle, Dr James Mundell, a surgeon in Dumfries.^[2]

He studied

Franklin and Richardson returned to Canada in 1825 and went overland by fur trade routes to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Franklin was to go as far west as possible and Richardson was to go east to the mouth of the Coppermine River. These were the only known points on the central coast and had been reached in 1793 and 1771 respectively. He had with him two specially-built boats which were more ocean-worthy than the voyageur canoes used by Franklin on his previous expedition. They gave their names to the Dolphin and Union Strait near the end of his route.

His journey was successful and he reached his furthest east the same day that Franklin reached his furthest west (16 August 1826). He abandoned his boats at

He retired to the Lake District in 1855.

He died at his home Lancrigg House north of Grasmere on 5 June 1865, and is buried at St Oswald's Church, Grasmere.^[1]

Family

He married three times: firstly in 1818 to Mary Stiven; secondly in 1833 to Mary Booth; and finally in 1847 to Mary Fletcher.^[2]

Works

He also wrote accounts dealing with the natural history, and especially the ichthyology, of several other Arctic voyages, and was the author of Icones Piscium (1843), Catalogue of Apodal Fish in the British Museum (1856), the second edition of Yarrell's History of British Fishes (1860), The Polar Regions (1861).^[1] and Arctic Ordeal: The Journal of John Richardson Edited by C. Stuart Houston (1984). The National Marine Biological Library at the Marine Biological Association retains some original illustrations used by Richardson in preparation for the second edition of Yarrell's book.^[4]

Taxa named in his honor

Reptiles

Richardson is commemorated in the scientific names of four species of reptiles:

• Eremiascincus richardsonii
• Hemidactylus richardsonii
• Myron richardsonii
• Sphaerodactylus richardsonii^[5]

Mammals

The mammal species

• The emine,
  Mustela richardsonii
  ,
• The ground squirrel,
  Urocitellus richardsonii
  , and
• The collared lemming,
  Dicrostonyx richardsoni
  are also named for him.

Plants

There is also a flowering plant, Boykinia richardsonii, commonly known as Richardson's brookfoam,^[6] less commonly as Richardson's boykinia or Richardson's saxifrage.^[7]

Fish

• Diaphus richardsoni Tåning, 1932, is a species of lanternfish found worldwide.^[8]
• ray-finned fish in the genus Sardinella from the South China Sea in the northwest Pacific.^[9]

Taxon described by him

• See Category:Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online". Library and Archive Canada. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
2. ^
   ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original
   (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
3. PMID 2021022. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2008.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
   )
4. ^ Richardson material in the MBA Archive Collection: http://www.mba.ac.uk/NMBL/archives/archives_personal/personal_papers.htm#richard Archived 13 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
5. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
   . ("Richardson", pp. 220–221).
6. ^ "Boykinia richardsonii". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
7. Jackson Hole, Wyoming
   . Retrieved 3 February 2023.
8. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Order MYCTOPHIFORMES (Lanternfishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
9. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Family DOROSOMATIDAE Bleeker 1872 (Gizzard Shads and Sardinellas)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 22 April 2023.

Further reading

• Johnson, Robert E. (1976). Sir John Richardson: arctic explorer, natural historian, naval surgeon. London: Taylor Francis.
  ISBN 978-0-85066-074-6
  .
• Sterling, Keir B., ed. (1997). "Richardson, John". Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. Greenwood Press. pp. 668–670.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sir John Richardson.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
John Richardson

• Works by John Richardson at Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Works by John Richardson at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by John Richardson at Open Library
• Works by John Richardson at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Richardson at Internet Archive