Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet of Applegarth FRS FRSE FLS FSA (23 February 1800 – 21 November 1874) was a Scottish naturalist. He is known for his editing of a long series of natural history books, The Naturalist's Library.
Life and work
Jardine was born on 23 February 1800 at 28 North Hanover StreetEdinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1800-1801 in Edinburgh, the son of Sir Alexander Jardine, 6th baronet of Applegarth and his wife, Jane Maule. He was educated in both York and Edinburgh then studied medicine at Edinburgh University.
From 1817 to 1821 he lodged with Rev Dr Andrew Grant at James Square, an arrangement made by his father. Grant was minister of St Andrew's Church on George Street.William Jardine: A Life in Natural History by Christine Jackson
In his early years, aged only 25, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Sir David Brewster.
He was a co-founder of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, and contributed to the founding of the Ray Society.Osbert Salvin (Editor), Ibis, Quarterly Journal of Ornithology, Vol.V, 1875, page 522 He was "keenly addicted to field-sports, and a master equally of the rod and the gun". While ornithology was his main passion, he also studied ichthyology, botany and geology. His book on fossil burrows and traces, the Ichnology of Annandale, included fossils from his ancestral estate.Jardine, W. 1853. The Ichnology of Annandale; Or, Illustrations of Footmarks Impressed on the New Red Sandstone of Corncockle Muir. He was the first to coin the term ichnology, and this was the first book written on the subject.Pemberton, S.G. and Pemberton E.A. 2017. Sir William Jardine and the Ichnology of Annandale His private natural history museum and library are said to have been the finest in Britain.Jackson and Davis, 2001.
Jardine made natural history available to all levels of Victorian society by editing the hugely popular forty volumes of The Naturalist's Library (1833–1843) issued and published by his brother in law, the Edinburgh printer and engraver, William Home Lizars.Susan Sheets-Pyenson "War and Peace in Natural History Publishing: The Naturalist's Library, 1833-1843". Isis. 1981, v.72 (no. 261) pp.50-72. The series was divided into four main sections: Ornithology (14 volumes), Mammalia (13 volumes), Entomology (7 volumes), and Ichthyology (6 volumes); each prepared by a leading naturalist. James Duncan wrote the insect volumes. The artists responsible for the illustrations included Edward Lear.Finn Sarah. 2022. “Hand-Colored Zoological Illustrations for ‘All Classes’ of British Society: The Publishing History of The Naturalist's Library 1833-1843.” Dissertation. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The work was published in Edinburgh by W. H. Lizars. The frontispiece is a portrait of Pierre André Latreille.
His other publications included an edition of Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne which re-established White's reputation, Illustrations of Ornithology (1825–1843), and an affordable edition of Alexander Wilson's Birds of America.
Jardine described of a number of bird species, alone or in conjunction with his friend Prideaux John Selby. He died on 21 November 1874 in Sandown, Isle of Wight.
Family and descendants He was married to Jane Home Lizars, and through her was brother-in-law to John Lizars FRSE and William Home Lizars. After Lady Jardine's death he married the daughter of the Rev. William Samuel Symonds, the well-known geologist.
Jardine's daughter, Catherine Dorcas Maule Jardine, married Hugh Edwin Strickland and produced many of the illustrations for Illustrations of Ornithology (identifiable by her initials, CDMS).
The Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent is a direct descendant of Jardine."Matthew Pinsent", Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, retrieved 23 August 2012. In Who Do You Think You Are?, BBC, broadcast 18 October 2007.
Bibliography Jardine wrote many books and edited the series and wrote many of the books for The Naturalist's Library. The books are listed below by publication date with those of The Naturalist's Library under a separate heading.
1825 to 1843, Illustrations of Ornithology, written with Prideaux John Selby in four volumes: Volume I Volume II Volume III Volume IV 1839, Illustrations of the British Salmonidae with Descriptions 1848, Contributions to Ornithology for 1848: Vols. I and II 1850, Contributions to Ornithology for 1850: Vols. III and IV 1851, The Natural History of Selborne, by Gilbert White with additions, supplementary notes a short biography of Reverend Gilbert White by Jardine 1853, Contributions to Ornithology for 1852: Vol. V 1858, Memoirs of Hugh Edwin Strickland, M.A.
The Naturalist's Library Jardine edited the series of books that were published a part of The Naturalist's Library, and include (in the order in which they were published):Schomburgk, Robert H. (1843). Ichthyology: Vol. V: Fishes of Guiana: Part II, pp. i-iii] 1833, Ornithology: Humming Birds: Part I, by Jardine with a memoir of Carl Linnaeus 1833, The Natural History of Monkeys, by Jardine with a memoir of Comte de Buffon 1833, Ichthyology: British Fishes: Part II, by Robert Hamilton with a memoir of Alexander von Humboldt undated, Ornithology: Humming Birds: Part II, by Jardine with a memoir of Thomas Pennant 1834, Mammalia: Vol. II: The Felinae, by Jardine with a memoir of Georges Cuvier 1834, The Natural History of Gallinaceous Birds: Vol. I, by Jardine with a memoir of Aristotle 1835, The Natural History of Fishes of the Perch Family, by Jardine with a memoir of Joseph Banks 1835, Entomology: Vol. III: British Butterflies, by James Duncan with a memoir of Abraham Gottlob Werner 1836, The Natural History of Parrots, by Prideaux J. Selby with plates by Edward Lear and a memoir of Thomas Bewick 1836, Mammalia: Vol. V: Pachyderms, by Jardine with a memoir of Hans Sloane 1836, The Natural History of British Moths, Sphinxes, &c., by James Duncan with a memoir of Maria Sibylla Merian 1837, The Natural History of the Ordinary Cetacea or Whales, by Jardine with a memoir of Bernard Germain de Lacépède 1837, The Natural History of Foreign Butterflies, by James Duncan with a memoir of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck 1837, The Natural History of the Birds of Western Africa, by William Swainson with a memoir of François Levaillant 1838, The Natural History of the Birds of Great Britain and Ireland: Part I: Birds of Prey, by Jardine with a memoir of Robert Sibbald 1838, The Natural Arrangement and Relations of the Family of Flycatchers or Muscicapidae, by William Swainson with a memoir of Albrecht von Haller 1838, A History of British Quadrupeds, by William MacGillivray with a memoir of Ulisse Aldrovandi 1839, The Natural History of the Amphibious Carnivora, Including the Walrus and Seals, Also of the Herbivorous Cetacea, &c., by Robert Hamilton with a memoir of François Péron 1839, The Natural History of Dogs: Canidae or Genus Canis of Authors: Including Also the Genera Hyaena and Proteles: Vol. I, by Chas. Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Peter Simon Pallas 1840, The Natural History of Dogs: Canidae or Genus Canis of Authors: Including Also the Genera Hyaena and Proteles: Vol. II, by Chas. Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Félix de Azara 1840, Introduction to Entomology, by James Duncan with memoirs of Jan Swammerdam and Charles De Geer 1841, The Natural History of Marsupialia or Pouched Animals, by G. R. Waterhouse with a memoir of John Barclay 1841, The Natural History of Horses: The Equidae or Genus Equus of Authors, by Chas. Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Conrad Gessner 1841, The Natural History of the Fishes of Guiana: Part I, by Robert H. Schomburgk 1841, The Natural History of Exotic Moths, by James Duncan with a memoir of Pierre André Latreille 1842, The Natural History of the Birds of Great Britain and Ireland: Part III: Rasores and Grallatores, by Jardine with a memoir of John Walker 1842, An Introduction to the Mammalia, by Charles Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Dru Drury 1843, Ichthyology: Fishes, Particularly Their Structure and Economical Uses, by J. S. Bushnan with a memoir of Hippolito Salviani 1843, The Natural History of the Fishes of Guiana: Part II, by Robert H. Schomburgk with a memoir of Johann Ludwig Burckhardt 1844, The Natural History of Game-Birds, by Jardine with a memoir of Stamford Raffles 1852, The Natural History of Beetles, by James Duncan with a memoir of John Ray undated, Ornithology: Pigeons, by Prideaux John Selby with a memoir of Pliny the Elder 1859, Entomology: Bees, by Jardine with a memoir of François Huber 1860, Ichthyology: British Fishes: Part I, by Robert Hamilton with a memoir of Guillaume Rondelet 1860, Ornithology: Birds of Great Britain and Ireland: Part IV, by Jardine with a memoir of Alexander Wilson 1862, Ornithology: Birds of Western Africa: Part I, by W. Swainson with a memoir of James Bruce 1864, The Natural History of the Nectariniadae, or Sun-Birds, by Jardine with a memoir of Francis Willughby 1866, Mammalia: Deer, Antelopes, Camels, &c., by Jardine with a memoir of Petrus Camper 1866, Mammalia: Goats, Sheep, Oxen, &c., by Jardine with a memoir of John Hunter 1866, Ornithology: Parrots, by Prideaux John Selby with a memoir of Thomas Bewick 1866, Ornithology: Birds of Great Britain and Ireland: Part II, by Jardine with a memoir of William Smellie
Later supplements include the following titles: The Natural History of Man, Humming Birds Volume 3 and a single volume that collated the memoirs of "great naturalists".
See also :Category:Taxa named by Sir William Jardine Jardine baronets
References
External links
Obituary in Nature, Vol. 11, 74–76, 26 November 1874 Obituary in Osbert Salvin (Editor), Ibis, Quarterly Journal of Ornithology, Vol. V, page 522, 1875
"Sir William Jardine" lithograph by Thomas Herbert Maguire, printed by M & N Hanhart c. 1851 at the National Portrait Gallery Jardine, William (1833) The Natural History of Humming-Birds, Vol. 1 - digital facsimile from the Linda Hall Library