Sir William Jardine
| Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet | |
|---|---|
Portrait, c. 1822
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| Born |
23 February 1800 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 21 November 1874 (aged 74) Sandown, Isle of Wight, England |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | Edinburgh University |
| Known for | Natural history |
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.
Jardine was born on 23 February 1800 at 28 North Hanover Street 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.
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. 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, writing a work on burrows and traces, the Ichnology of Annandale, his ancestral estate. His private natural history museum and library are said to have been the finest in Britain.
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. 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. The work was published in Edinburgh by W. H. Lizars. The frontispiece is a portrait of Pierre André Latreille.
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