William Abbott Herdman

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British Association
members of the voyage around Africa 1905. W.A. Herdman and his wife are left in the middle row.
Small Colony of Pyrosoma: illustration by W A Herdman

Sir William Abbott Herdman

oceanographer.[1][2]

His zoological author abbreviation is Herdman.

Life

Grave of Sir William Abbott Herdman in Highgate Cemetery

He was born in Edinburgh the son of the artist Robert Herdman RSA and his wife, Emma Abbott. They lived at 32 Danube Street.[3] He was educated at Edinburgh Academy from 1870 to 1875.[4]

Challenger Expedition
Commission: overseeing the deciphering of the huge catalogue of information found during this important exploration.

In 1880, he became Demonstrator of Zoology at the

Neill Prize for the period 1880–1883.[4]

In 1890, he founded the research station at Puffin Island off the north Wales coast, appointing Philip Jacob White as its Director.[5]

He devoted himself from 1891 to the organization of a laboratory for study of the sea. He endowed the Herdman chair of geology in 1916 and then a chair of Oceanography in 1919. He was the author of Founders of Oceanography and Their Work: An Introduction to the Science of the Sea (1923) and made many contribution to the scientific study of the fauna of the Irish Sea. He was interested in fisheries and studied, in 1901-1902, the harvesting of pearls in

Ceylon. He was a specialist in tunicates
.

Herdman was elected a

Linnean Society from 1904 to 1908. He was the president of the British Association for 1919–1920. He was knighted in 1922.[7]

Death

He died in London on 21 July 1924. He is buried in the eastern section of Highgate Cemetery.[citation needed]

Family

He married twice: firstly in 1882 to Sarah Wyse Douglas (1861-1886), daughter of David Douglas, publisher and bookseller,[8] and secondly in 1893 to Jane Brandreth Holt (1867–1922), daughter of the shipping merchant Alfred Holt.

References

  1. ^ "HERDMAN, William Abbott". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 827.
  2. doi:10.1038/114165a0
    .
  3. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1860-61
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-902-198-84-X
    .
  5. doi:10.1017/S037016460004503X
    .
  6. ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  7. ^ "Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science". London: John Murray. 18 May 1920 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "Statutory Registers of Marriage Edinburgh St George 685-1-255 (subscription required)". scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

External links

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