List of parson-naturalists

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Parson-naturalists were ministers of religion who also studied natural history. The archetypical parson-naturalist was a priest in the Church of England in charge of a country parish, who saw the study of science as an extension of his religious work. The philosophy entailed the belief that God, as the Creator of all things, wanted man to understand his Creations and thus to study them through scientific techniques.[1] They often collected and preserved natural artefacts such as leaves, flowers, birds' eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals to classify and study. Some wrote books or kept nature diaries.

Parson-naturalists

Leading parson-naturalists
Name Dates Description Known for Portrait
Turner, William[2] 1508?–1568 Dean of Wells Cathedral Herbalism
Libellus de Re Herbaria
William Turner Libellus de Re Herbaria 1538 candido lectori SPD page 02.jpg
White, Gilbert[3] 1720–1793 Curate of Selborne, Hampshire
ornithology
Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne Gilbert White.jpg
Probably
not authentic
Ray, John[4] 1627–1705 Father of English natural history;
taxonomy; empiricism
Historia Plantarum John Ray from NPG.jpg
Derham, William[5] 1657–1735 Physico-Theology, (Natural theology) Estimated speed of sound
Astronomy, listed nebulae
William Derham.jpg
Lightfoot, John[6] 1735–1788 Botanist
Conchologist
Flora Scotica (1789) 75px
Henslow, John Stevens[7] 1796–1861 Botanist, Geologist Mentor and friend of his pupil Charles Darwin 75px
Jenyns, Leonard[8] 1800–1893 Priest, founder of Bath Natural History
and Antiquarian Field Club
Phenology and meteorology observations Leonard Jenyns.jpg
Fox, William Darwin[9] 1805–1880 Priest, Entomologist, collector of beetles Tutored his second cousin Charles Darwin in natural history 75px


Tristram, Henry Baker[10] 1822–1906 Biblical scholar, Ornithologist Early acceptance of Darwinism,
tried to reconcile it with creation
75px
Wood, John George[11] 1827–1889 Natural history populariser and lecturer Common Objects of the Country 75px
Dallinger, William[12] 1839–1909 Methodist minister, microbiology Research on monads
Opposition to spontaneous generation
75px
Cowper, Spencer[13] 1713–1774 Dean of Durham 1746–1774 Meteorology 75px
Morris, Francis Orpen[14] 1810–1893 Irascible Irish clergyman
Hated Darwinism, fox-hunting
Campaigned for
bird conservation law
History of British Birds
A Bible Natural History
Records of Animal Sagacity and Character
Dogs and Their Doings
75px
Bloxam, Andrew[15] 1801–1878 Naturalist on HMS Blonde
Later priest and naturalist
Recorded and collected Hawaiian birds,
some now extinct
Later particularly known for fungi, Rubus and Rosa
Bloxam Brothers Drawing.jpg
Berkeley, Miles Joseph[16] 1803–1889 Vicar of Sibbertoft for much of his life
Known as the founder of British mycology
Account of native British fungi in Sir William Jackson Hooker's British Flora (1836)
Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany (1857)
Outlines of British Fungology (1860)
75px
Linton, William Richardson[17] 1850–1908 Botanist, Vicar of Shirley, Derbyshire Work on brambles of Derbyshire, including Rubus durescens
Flora of Derbyshire: Flowering Plants, Higher Cryptogams, Mosses and Hepatics, Characeae
75px

See also

References

  1. Armstrong, 2000.
  2. Raven, Charles E. 1947. English naturalists from Neckam to Ray: a study of the making of the modern world. Cambridge. p38
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  6. Boulger, George Simonds. DNB, 1885-1900, Volume 33: Lightfoot, John
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  10. Armstrong, 2000. p. 6
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  14. Armstrong, 2000. pp. 74–78
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Bibliography

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