Thomas Horsfield

Thomas Horsfield M. D. (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the East India Company Museum in London.

Horsfield was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr. (1708- 1773), who was born in Liverpool and emigrated to New York in 1725. Moving in 1725 to New York, he and his brother Isaac ran a butcher shop. The Horsfield family converted from the Church of England to Moravianism, a Protestant denomination with a strong emphasis on education. In 1748 he applied for permission to reside in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He however moved only his family to Bethlehem and joined them the next year. When Northampton County was created in 1752, he was made a justice of peace by Governor Hamilton. In 1763 he was commissioned a colonel in the forces defending the frontiers against Indian raids. One of the sons, Joseph Horsfield was a delegate in the Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Federal Constitution. Grandfather Horsfield was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and finds mention in the latter's autobiography. Horsfield's father was Timothy Horsfield, Jr. (died April 11, 1789) and he married Juliana Sarah Parsons of Philadelphia in 1738. Thomas Horsfield was born in Bethlehem on May 12, 1773. He went to school at the Moravian schools in Bethlehem and Nazareth. He took an interest in biology and took a pharmacy course under a Dr Otto (probably John Frederick Otto MD, of Nazareth). In 1798 he graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, his thesis being on the effects of poison ivy.

In 1790 he accepted a post as surgeon on the vessel China, a merchant vessel that was to sail to Java. He passed through Batavia and took a great interest in plants of medicinal value. In 1801 he applied as a surgeon with the Dutch Colonial Army in Batavia. Taking up appointment here, he took an interest in the flora, fauna and geology of the region. The East India Company took control of the island from the Dutch in 1811, and Horsfield began to collect plants and animals on behalf of the governor and friend Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. In 1816 Java was restored to the Dutch and Horsfield moved east to Sumatra. In 1819 he was forced to leave the island due to ill health and returned to London on board the Lady Raffles.

...
Wikipedia