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John Latham (ornithologist)

February 15, 2024

For other people with the same name, see John Latham (disambiguation).

John Latham (27 June 1740 – 4 February 1837) was an English physician, naturalist and author. His main works were A General Synopsis of Birds (1781–1801) and General History of Birds (1821–1828). He was able to examine specimens of Australian birds which reached England in the last twenty years of the 18th century, and was responsible for providing English names for many of them. He named some of Australia's most famous birds, including the emu, sulphur-crested cockatoo, wedge-tailed eagle, superb lyrebird, Australian magpie, magpie-lark and pheasant coucal. He was also the first to describe the hyacinth macaw. Latham has been called the "grandfather" of Australian ornithology.

John Latham
Born(1740-06-27)27 June 1740
Eltham, Kent, England
Died4 February 1837(1837-02-04) (aged 96)
Winchester, Hampshire, England
NationalityEnglish
Known forA General Synopsis of Birds
AwardsFRS
Scientific career
FieldsOrnithology
Author abbrev. (zoology)Latham

Biography edit

John Latham was born on 27 June 1740 at Eltham in northwest Kent. He was the eldest son of John Latham (died 1788),[1] a surgeon, and his mother, who was a descendant of the Sothebys, in Yorkshire.[2]

He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and then studied anatomy under William Hunter and completed his medical education in London hospitals. In 1763 at the age of 23 he began working as a physician in the village of Darenth, near Dartford in Kent. In the same year he married Ann Porter. They had four children of whom a son John (1769-1822) and a daughter Ann (1772-1835) survived childhood.[3]

Latham retired from his medical practice aged 56 in 1796 and moved to live near his son at Romsey in Hampshire. His wife died in 1798 and Latham remarried the same year to Ann Delamott. His son who had invested in a series of inns became heavily indebted and was declared bankrupt in 1817. Latham lost much of his wealth in supporting his son. In 1819 Latham sold his house in Romsey and moved with his wife to live with his daughter's family in Winchester. His second wife died in 1821 and then in the following year his son committed suicide.[3]

Latham died aged 96 in Winchester on 4 February 1837 and was buried in Romsey Abbey.[3]

Contribution to ornithology edit

 
Drawing of the red-tailed black cockatoo, a color plate from A General Synopsis of Birds (vol. 2, 1822)

A General Synopsis of Birds was Latham's first ornithological work and contained 106 illustrations by the author. It described many new species which Latham had discovered in various museums and collections. In this work, like Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, he did not attach importance to the names of the species which he described. Later, Latham realised that only the use of the Linnean binomial system would give him the honour of originating the species' scientific names. Thus he published in 1790, a Index Ornithologicus where he specified a binomial name for all the species which he had previously described. However, it was too late, as Johann Friedrich Gmelin had already published his own version of Linnaeus' Systema Naturæ in which he gave a scientific name to Latham's species; taking into account the rules of nomenclature, Gmelin has priority. Nevertheless, there are around eighty bird species for which Latham's 1790 publication is cited as the authority. These include the emu, the black swan, the hyacinth macaw, the sulphur-crested cockatoo, and the noisy friarbird.[4]

A supplement to the Index Ornithologicus containing additional scientific names was published as Supplementum indicis ornithologici sive systematis ornithologiae with the year of 1801 on the title page. Although there is circumstantial evidence that the supplement was not available until 1802, for the purposes of zoological nomenclature the evidence for a later publication date has not been deemed sufficient to justify changing the year.[5]

Working from drawings, Latham appears to have had difficulty in distinguishing the different species and some he described more than once under different names. In his Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici he described the Australian noisy miner four times: as the chattering bee-eater (Merops garrulus), the black-headed grakle (Gracula melanocephala), the hooded bee-eater (Merops cucullatus), and the white-fronted bee-eater (Merops albifrons).[6][7] This has caused some confusion in the ornithological literature as to the correct scientific name.[8] Latham's 1801 Latin supplement is the authority for around seventy species of birds, almost all of which occur only in Australasia. They include the Pacific gull, the barking owl, the noisy miner, the Australian magpie and the magpie-lark.[4]

Beginning in 1821, when Latham was in his eighties, he published an expanded version in eleven volumes of his earlier work with the title A General History of Birds. The ornithologist Alfred Newton later wrote in Encyclopædia Britannica that: "his defect as a compiler, which had manifest itself before, rather increased with age, and the consequences were not happy."[9]

Latham maintained a regular correspondence with Thomas Pennant, Joseph Banks, Ashton Lever and others. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1775, and also took part in the creation of the Linnean Society.[10] In 1812, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Works edit

  • Latham, John (1781–1785). A General Synopsis of Birds (3 Volumes). London: Printed for Benj. White.
  • Latham, John (1787). Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds. London: Leigh & Sotheby.
  • Latham, John (1790). Index Ornithologicus, Sive Systema Ornithologiae: Complectens Avium Divisionem In Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Ipsarumque Varietates (2 Volumes) (in Latin). London: Leigh & Sotheby.
  • Latham, John (1801). Supplement II to the General Synopsis of Birds. London: Leigh & Sotheby.
  • Latham, John (1801). Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici Sive Systematis Ornithologiae (in Latin). London: Leigh & Sotheby.
  • Latham, John (1821–1828). A General History of Birds (10 Volumes + Index). Winchester, England: Jacob and Johnson.

References edit

  1. ^ Watkins, Morgan George (1892). "Latham, John (1740–1837)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ Anonymous (1838–1839). "John Latham, MD, FRS, AS, LS". The Naturalist. 4: 26–33.
  3. ^ a b c Jackson, C.E.; Datta, A.; Vane-Wright, R.I. (2013). (PDF). The Linnean. 29 (1): 15–30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "IOC World Bird List Version 5.4". International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  5. ^ Schodde, R.; Dickinson, E.C.; Steinheimer, F.D.; Bock, W.J. (2010). "The date of Latham's Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici 1801 or 1802?". South Australian Ornithologist. 35 (8): 231–235.
  6. ^ Latham, John (1801). Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae (in Latin). London: G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby. pp. xxviii, xxxiv, xxxiii, xxxv.
  7. ^ Salomonsen, F. (1967). "Family Maliphagidae, Honeyeaters". In Paynter, R.A. Jnr. (ed.). Check-list of birds of the world (Volume 12). Vol. 12. Cambridge, Mass.: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 400.
  8. ^ Schodde, R.; Boch, W.J.; Steinheimer, F. (2007). "Stabilising the nomenclature of Australasian birds by invalidation and suppression of disused and dubious senior names". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 127 (4): 268–282 [277].
  9. ^ Newton, Alfred; Mitchell, Peter Chalmers (1911). "Ornithology" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 299–326. see page 302 : Latham, final sentence: his defects as a compiler, which had been manifest before, rather increased with age, and the consequences were not happy.
  10. ^ Jackson, Christine E. (1989). Bird Etchings: The Illustrators and Their Books, 1655–1855. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press. pp. 136–147. ISBN 0-8014-9684-5.

Further reading edit

  • Hindwood, K.A. (1970). "The "Watling" drawings with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings". Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. 89 (1968–1969): 16–32.
  • Mathews, G.M. (1931). "John Latham (1740–1837): an early English Ornithologist". Ibis. 73 (3): 466–475. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1931.tb01530.x.
  • Sawyer, F.C. (1949). "Notes on some original drawings of birds used by Dr John Latham". Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History. 2 (5): 173–180. doi:10.3366/jsbnh.1949.2.5.173.
  • Sharpe, Richard Bowdler (1906). The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. Volume 2. Vol. 2. London: British Museum. pp. 89–154.

External links edit

  • Calaby, J.H. (1967). Latham, John (1740–1837). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University.
  • Hutchinson, John (1892). "Stephen Langton" . Men of Kent and Kentishmen (Subscription ed.). Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. p. 88.

February 15, 2024
john, latham, ornithologist, other, people, with, same, name, john, latham, disambiguation, john, latham, june, 1740, february, 1837, english, physician, naturalist, author, main, works, were, general, synopsis, birds, 1781, 1801, general, history, birds, 1821. For other people with the same name see John Latham disambiguation John Latham 27 June 1740 4 February 1837 was an English physician naturalist and author His main works were A General Synopsis of Birds 1781 1801 and General History of Birds 1821 1828 He was able to examine specimens of Australian birds which reached England in the last twenty years of the 18th century and was responsible for providing English names for many of them He named some of Australia s most famous birds including the emu sulphur crested cockatoo wedge tailed eagle superb lyrebird Australian magpie magpie lark and pheasant coucal He was also the first to describe the hyacinth macaw Latham has been called the grandfather of Australian ornithology John LathamBorn 1740 06 27 27 June 1740Eltham Kent EnglandDied4 February 1837 1837 02 04 aged 96 Winchester Hampshire EnglandNationalityEnglishKnown forA General Synopsis of BirdsAwardsFRSScientific careerFieldsOrnithologyAuthor abbrev zoology LathamContents 1 Biography 2 Contribution to ornithology 3 Works 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksBiography editJohn Latham was born on 27 June 1740 at Eltham in northwest Kent He was the eldest son of John Latham died 1788 1 a surgeon and his mother who was a descendant of the Sothebys in Yorkshire 2 He was educated at Merchant Taylors School and then studied anatomy under William Hunter and completed his medical education in London hospitals In 1763 at the age of 23 he began working as a physician in the village of Darenth near Dartford in Kent In the same year he married Ann Porter They had four children of whom a son John 1769 1822 and a daughter Ann 1772 1835 survived childhood 3 Latham retired from his medical practice aged 56 in 1796 and moved to live near his son at Romsey in Hampshire His wife died in 1798 and Latham remarried the same year to Ann Delamott His son who had invested in a series of inns became heavily indebted and was declared bankrupt in 1817 Latham lost much of his wealth in supporting his son In 1819 Latham sold his house in Romsey and moved with his wife to live with his daughter s family in Winchester His second wife died in 1821 and then in the following year his son committed suicide 3 Latham died aged 96 in Winchester on 4 February 1837 and was buried in Romsey Abbey 3 Contribution to ornithology edit nbsp Drawing of the red tailed black cockatoo a color plate from A General Synopsis of Birds vol 2 1822 A General Synopsis of Birds was Latham s first ornithological work and contained 106 illustrations by the author It described many new species which Latham had discovered in various museums and collections In this work like Georges Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon he did not attach importance to the names of the species which he described Later Latham realised that only the use of the Linnean binomial system would give him the honour of originating the species scientific names Thus he published in 1790 a Index Ornithologicus where he specified a binomial name for all the species which he had previously described However it was too late as Johann Friedrich Gmelin had already published his own version of Linnaeus Systema Naturae in which he gave a scientific name to Latham s species taking into account the rules of nomenclature Gmelin has priority Nevertheless there are around eighty bird species for which Latham s 1790 publication is cited as the authority These include the emu the black swan the hyacinth macaw the sulphur crested cockatoo and the noisy friarbird 4 A supplement to the Index Ornithologicus containing additional scientific names was published as Supplementum indicis ornithologici sive systematis ornithologiae with the year of 1801 on the title page Although there is circumstantial evidence that the supplement was not available until 1802 for the purposes of zoological nomenclature the evidence for a later publication date has not been deemed sufficient to justify changing the year 5 Working from drawings Latham appears to have had difficulty in distinguishing the different species and some he described more than once under different names In his Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici he described the Australian noisy miner four times as the chattering bee eater Merops garrulus the black headed grakle Gracula melanocephala the hooded bee eater Merops cucullatus and the white fronted bee eater Merops albifrons 6 7 This has caused some confusion in the ornithological literature as to the correct scientific name 8 Latham s 1801 Latin supplement is the authority for around seventy species of birds almost all of which occur only in Australasia They include the Pacific gull the barking owl the noisy miner the Australian magpie and the magpie lark 4 Beginning in 1821 when Latham was in his eighties he published an expanded version in eleven volumes of his earlier work with the title A General History of Birds The ornithologist Alfred Newton later wrote in Encyclopaedia Britannica that his defect as a compiler which had manifest itself before rather increased with age and the consequences were not happy 9 Latham maintained a regular correspondence with Thomas Pennant Joseph Banks Ashton Lever and others He was elected to the Royal Society in 1775 and also took part in the creation of the Linnean Society 10 In 1812 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Works editLatham John 1781 1785 A General Synopsis of Birds 3 Volumes London Printed for Benj White Latham John 1787 Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds London Leigh amp Sotheby Latham John 1790 Index Ornithologicus Sive Systema Ornithologiae Complectens Avium Divisionem In Classes Ordines Genera Species Ipsarumque Varietates 2 Volumes in Latin London Leigh amp Sotheby Latham John 1801 Supplement II to the General Synopsis of Birds London Leigh amp Sotheby Latham John 1801 Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici Sive Systematis Ornithologiae in Latin London Leigh amp Sotheby Latham John 1821 1828 A General History of Birds 10 Volumes Index Winchester England Jacob and Johnson References edit Watkins Morgan George 1892 Latham John 1740 1837 In Lee Sidney ed Dictionary of National Biography Vol 32 London Smith Elder amp Co Anonymous 1838 1839 John Latham MD FRS AS LS The Naturalist 4 26 33 a b c Jackson C E Datta A Vane Wright R I 2013 Dr John Latham F L S and his daughter Ann PDF The Linnean 29 1 15 30 Archived from the original PDF on 25 January 2016 a b Gill Frank Donsker David eds IOC World Bird List Version 5 4 International Ornithologists Union Retrieved 24 January 2016 Schodde R Dickinson E C Steinheimer F D Bock W J 2010 The date of Latham s Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici 1801 or 1802 South Australian Ornithologist 35 8 231 235 Latham John 1801 Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici sive Systematis Ornithologiae in Latin London G Leigh J amp S Sotheby pp xxviii xxxiv xxxiii xxxv Salomonsen F 1967 Family Maliphagidae Honeyeaters In Paynter R A Jnr ed Check list of birds of the world Volume 12 Vol 12 Cambridge Mass Museum of Comparative Zoology p 400 Schodde R Boch W J Steinheimer F 2007 Stabilising the nomenclature of Australasian birds by invalidation and suppression of disused and dubious senior names Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club 127 4 268 282 277 Newton Alfred Mitchell Peter Chalmers 1911 Ornithology In Chisholm Hugh ed Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 20 11th ed Cambridge University Press pp 299 326 see page 302 Latham final sentence his defects as a compiler which had been manifest before rather increased with age and the consequences were not happy Jackson Christine E 1989 Bird Etchings The Illustrators and Their Books 1655 1855 Ithaca London Cornell University Press pp 136 147 ISBN 0 8014 9684 5 Further reading editHindwood K A 1970 The Watling drawings with incidental notes on the Lambert and the Latham drawings Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 89 1968 1969 16 32 Mathews G M 1931 John Latham 1740 1837 an early English Ornithologist Ibis 73 3 466 475 doi 10 1111 j 1474 919X 1931 tb01530 x Sawyer F C 1949 Notes on some original drawings of birds used by Dr John Latham Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 2 5 173 180 doi 10 3366 jsbnh 1949 2 5 173 Sharpe Richard Bowdler 1906 The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum Volume 2 Vol 2 London British Museum pp 89 154 External links editCalaby J H 1967 Latham John 1740 1837 Australian Dictionary of Biography Australian National University Hutchinson John 1892 Stephen Langton Men of Kent and Kentishmen Subscription ed Canterbury Cross amp Jackman p 88 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Latham ornithologist amp oldid 1184166918, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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