Catharine Johnston

For other people with similar names, see Kathryn Johnston (disambiguation).

Catharine Johnston (née Charles; 1794–1871) was an English botanical illustrator who had a species of marine animal named in her honour.

Botanical illustration of Hieracium murorum and Hieracium sylvaticum in Plate II by Catharine Johnston published in The Botany of the Eastern Borders.^[1]

Life and work

Catharine Charles was born in 1794^[2] and was the daughter of William Claudius Charles, a surgeon who had worked in the West Indies.^[3] On 23 November 1819, she married George Johnston,^[4] a naturalist, and moved to Berwick-on-Tweed, where the couple resided permanently.^[5]

Johnston took an active interest in the study of natural history.^[5] She assisted her husband in his natural history investigations and illustrated his publications with scientific drawings.^[5] She signed her works C. Johnston.^[6] On 21 December 1831, she was made an "Extraordinary member" of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.^[7] Her drawings assisted other notable scientists to further their research.^[8]

 

Johnstonella catharina from A naturalist's rambles on the Devonshire coast by P. H. Gosse, 1853.^[8]

In 1853 Philip Henry Gosse named the marine species Tomopteris (Johnstonella) catharina in her honor stating:

The crystalline Johnstonella: I have pleasure of announcing a new animal of much elegance, which I believe to be of a hitherto unrecognised form. I shall describe it under the appellation of Johnstonella Catharina. (Plate XXV). ... I venture respectfully to appropriate to this marine animal, the surname and christian name of Mrs. Catharine Johnston, as a personal tribute of gratitude for the great aid which I have derived from her engravings in the study of zoophytology.^[8]

References

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catharine Johnston.

1. Details - The botany of the Eastern Borders : with the popular names and uses of the plants, and of the customs and beliefs which have been associated with them / - Biodiversity Heritage Library. J. Van Voorst. 1853. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
2. DAVIS, PETER (28 July 2010). "George Johnston (1797–1855) of Berwick upon Tweed and the pioneers of marine biology in north-east England". Archives of Natural History. 22 (3): 349–369. doi:10.3366/anh.1995.22.3.349.
3. Campbell, Thomas; Hall, Samuel Carter; Lytton, Edward Bulwer; Hook, Theodore Edward; Hood, Thomas; Ainsworth, William Harrison (1 January 1820). "Northumberland". The New Monthly Magazine. Vol. 12. p. 122. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
4. "Marriages". Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. 6: 359. December 1819. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
5. Platts, Elizabeth (1994). (PDF). The Ray Society Publication (163): 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
6. "Johnston C." Database of Scientific Illustrators. University of Stuttgart. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
7. "Extraordinary Members". History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. 1: 2. 1834. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
8. Gosse, Philip Henry (1853). A naturalist's rambles on the Devonshire coast. London: John Van Voorst. pp. 356–357. Retrieved 3 April 2015 – via biodiversitylibrary.org.