William John Macleay
Sir William John Macleay naturalist |
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Sir William John Macleay
Early life
Macleay was born at
He is noted as the last of the naturalists in a family active in this field; his uncle was
Political career
On 1 March 1855 Macleay was elected to the old Legislative Council as member for the Lachlan and Lower Darling Pastoral District. After responsible government, on 19 April 1856 Macleay was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Lachlan and Lower Darling serving until 11 April 1859. From 1860 to 1874 he represented Murrumbidgee in the Assembly.[4]
Zoological career
Macleay lived in Sydney from 1857, the year he was married to Susan Emmeline Deas-Thomson, daughter of Colonial Secretary and politician, Edward Deas-Thomson, and was now able to develop his interest in science. He had made a small collection of insects, and in 1861 began to extend it considerably. In April 1862 a meeting was held at his house and it was decided to found a local Entomological Society. Macleay was elected president and held the position for two years. The society lasted 11 years and, not only was Macleay the author of the largest number of papers, he also bore most of the expense. He had succeeded to the Macleay collection on the death of W. S. Macleay in 1865, and in 1874 decided to extend it from an entomological collection into a zoological collection. Also in 1874 the Linnean Society of New South Wales was founded, of which Macleay was elected the first president, and in May 1875, having fitted up the barque Chevert, he sailed for New Guinea, where he obtained what he described as "a vast and valuable collection" of zoological specimens.[5]
After his return from New Guinea, Macleay fostered the Linnean Society. He presented many books and materials for scientific work to it, however all were destroyed when the
Legacy
Macleay realised that a lot could be done to prevent diseases like typhoid fever and strongly urged the appointment of a government bacteriologist. Receiving little support he eventually left £12,000 to the University of Sydney for the foundation of a chair or lectureship in bacteriology, but this was rejected by the university senate due to the conditions of the bequest and the money went to the Linnean Society.[1] Nearly 40 years later a professorship in bacteriology was established from the Bosch fund. In 1890 the government having provided a building in the university grounds he handed the valuable Macleay collection to the university, together with an endowment of £6000 to provide for the salary of a curator. Macleay was knighted in 1889. He died on 7 December 1891; his wife, Susan, died in 1903 and there were no children. Macleay left £6000 to the Linnean Society for general purposes and after his wife died, £35,000 was given to the Linnean Society to provide four Linnean Macleay fellowships of £400 per annum each, to encourage and advance research in natural science.[1]
See also
References
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Serle, Percival (1949). "Macleay, William John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
- ISBN 073168463X.
- ^ "Sir William John Macleay (1820-1891)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ^ Archbold, William Arthur Jobson (1893). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
External links
- Works by or about William John Macleay at Internet Archive
- 1884-1887; Letters received by Sir William John Macleay. Correspondents include Sir George Macleay, Sir Charles Nicholson, Henry Nottidge Moseley, George Barnard, Nikolai de Miklouho-Maclay. Also includes Macleay's commission as captain of the Sydney Volunteer Artillery in 1866 and undated biographical notes, Macleay family - papers, 1811-1887, 1920-1929, 1983-1988, State Library of New South Wales, MLMSS 6116
- Macleay, Sir, William John (1820-1891) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Sir William John Macleay
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