| Authorised form of name | Falconer; Hugh (1808 - 1865); palaeontologist and naturalist |
| Dates | 1808 - 1865 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Forres, Moray, Morayshire, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 29 February 1808 |
| Place of death | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 31 January 1865 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Palaeontologist and naturalist |
| Research field | Surgery |
| Geology |
| Palaeontology |
| Botany |
| Activity | Education:
Local grammar school; University of Aberdeen MA; Edinburgh University MD 1829
Career:
Travelled to India as surgeon with the East India Company, Bengal establishment, Calcutta, obtaining a position in the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1830); Superintendent, Botanic Garden, Saharunpur, India (1832); published a geological description of the Siwálik Hills (1834); requested by the Commission of Bengal to investigate commercial feasibility of growing tea in India and on based on his findings and recommendations tea plants were introduced, with the resultant black tea becoming competitive with Chinese tea (1834); returned from India owing to ill health bringing with him a large collection of botanical and geological specimens (1842); travelled Europe for the prupose of making geological observations; continued in service of the British East India Company as a naturalis and pursued research at the British Museum and East India House and prepared casts for fossils to be displayed in the leading museums of Europe; superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden and professor of botany in the Medical College, Calcutta (1847); served as advisor to the Indian government and the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Bengal; left India again owing to ill health (1855); upon his return to Europe he made comparative studies between fossils he found in England, Europe, and India, particularly species of mastodon, elephant, and rhinoceros.
Memberships:
FLS; FGS
Awards/Medals:
Wollaston Medal 1837 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 13/02/1845 |
| Age at election | 37 |
| Proposer | George Peacock |
| Richard Horsman Solly |
| Robert Batty |
| Charles Giles Bridle Daubeny |
| Samuel Peace Pratt |
| James Joseph Sylvester |
| John Lee |
| John Edward Gray |
| David Thomas Ansted |
| Richard Partridge |
| Thomas Best Jervis |
| John Gould |
| William Bowman |
| Roderick Impey Murchison |
| John Barlow |
| Edward Solly |
| Leonard Horner |
| Charles Lyell |
| Richard Owen |
| Richard Jenkins |
| William HenrySykes |
| Thomas Bell |
| Robert Edmond Grant |
| John Lindley |
| William Jackson Hooker |
| John Forbes Royle |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
VP 1863-1864 |
| Relationships | Parents: David Falconer and Isabel Mcrae.
Siblings: Four brothers and two sisters. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 31583
RCN 38792
RCN 39140
RCN 38793 |
| OtherInfo | Studied the flora, fauna, and geology of India, Assam, Burma, and Mediterranean islands.
First to suggest the modern evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium.
Studied the Siwalik fossil beds, and may also have been the first person to discover a fossil ape.
His botanical notes, coloured drawings, and specimens were deposited in the library at Kew Gardens.
He was commemorated in the now obsolete plant genus Falconeria J. D. Hooker (Scrophulariaceae), and in Rhododendron falconeri (Ericaceae). |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1866-1867 vol 15 pp xiv-xx
References:
Joyce Brown, 'A Memoir of Colonel Sir Proby Cautley, FRS, 1802-1871, Engineer and Palaeontologist' in NR 1979-80 vol 34 pp 185-225
R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 1. 1731-1847' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 307-332 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/56760550 |
| Code | NA7096 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1845/09 | Falconer, Hugh: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| M/121 | Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society awarded to Hugh Falconer | 1837 |
| MC/7/37 | Letter from H [Hugh] Falconer, 21 Park Crescent, Portland Place, to General [Edward] Sabine, [President of the Royal Society] | 23 March 1864 |
| IM/001354 | Falconer, Hugh | nd |
| MM/19/86 | Letter from Henry James, Ordnance Survey Office, to Hugh Falconer | 27 December 1864 |
| RR/4/8 | Letter from Hugh Falconer, on a paper 'Observations on the discovery in various localities of the remains of human art mixed with the bones of extinct races of animals' by Charles Babbage | 11 June 1859 |
| RR/3/98 | Referee's report by Hugh Falconer, on a paper 'On chondrosteus, an extinct genus of the sturionidæ, found in the lias formation at Lyme Regis' by Phillip de Malpas Grey Egerton | 12 June 1858 |
| MS/426/150 | Copy letter from C R [Charles Richard] Weld, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Hugh Falconer M D | 23 October 1845 |
| MC/4/110 | Letter from Dr Hugh Falconer, 23 Norfolk Street, Strand, to Dr [Peter Mark] Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society | 15 December 1845 |
| MC/5/345 | Extract from a letter of Dr Falconer to the Secretary of the Geological Society | 10 May 1858 |
| RR/4/194 | Referee's report by Hugh Falconer, on a paper 'On the dicynodont reptilia, with a description of some fossil remains brought by H. R. H. Prince Alfred from South Africa, November 1860' by Richard Owen | 26 March 1862 |
| RR/5/123 | Referee's report by Hugh Falconer, on a paper 'On the osteology of the genus glyptodon' by Thomas Henry Huxley | 2 May 1864 |
| MC/4 | Volume 4 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1844-1850 |
| MM/14/72 | 'On the expediencey of instituting in the body of the Royal Society a new class of Foreign Associates to be designated "Correspondents" or "Corresponding Members"', by Hugh Falconer | 1864 |
| MC/7/134 | Letter from H [Hugh] Falconer, 21 Park Crescent, to [William] Sharpey, [Secretary of the Royal Society] | 7 November 1864 |
| MC/7/338 | Letter from Charles Murchison, 79 Wimpole Street, London, to Dr [William] Sharpey, Secretary of the Royal Society | 6 June 1866 |
| MC/7/359 | Letter from [Charles] Murchison, 79 Wimpole Street, London, to Walter White, [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society] | 6 October 1866 |
| MC/7 | Volume 7 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1864-1866 |
| AP/45/12 | Letters, regarding fossil finds at Abbeville [France] from various correspondents | 1863 |
| AP/45/12/2 | Letter, 'The reputed fossil man of Abbeville [France]' from H [Hugh] Falconer to the Editor of The Times | 23 April 1863 |
| AP/45/12/3 | Letter, 'The human jaw of Abbeville [France]' from H [Hugh] Falconer to the Editor of The Times | 19 May 1863 |
| S/0011 | Sculpture bust of Falconer, Hugh | 1866 |
| RR/5/112 | Referee's report by Hugh Falconer, on a paper 'On the fossil flora of Bovey Tracey' by Oswald Heer | 15 February 1862 |
| RR/5/162 | Referee's report by Hugh Falconer, on a paper 'On the Archeopteryx of von Meyer, with a description of the fossil remains of a long-tailed species, from the lithographic stone of Solenhofen' by Richard Owen | 20 December 1862 |
| MC/24/65 | Letter from Isabella Milne, Hotel Vandyke, Cromwell Road, Queens Gate, SW, to Sir Archibald [Geikie] | November 1909 |
| HS/7/365 | Letter, from Hugh Falconer to Sir John Herschel, dated at 23 Norfolk St., Strand | 16 December 1844 |
| HS/27/71 | Copy letter, from Sir John Herschel to Hugh Falconer, dated at Collingwood | 2 March 1846 |
| HS/27/72 | Letter, from Hugh Falconer to Sir John Herschel, dated at 23 Norfolk St., Strand | 13 March 1846 |
| MC/5 | Volume 5 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1851-1858 |