Person Busk; George (1807 - 1886); surgeon; naturalist Busk George surgeon; naturalist 1807 - 1886 British Male St Petersburg, Russia, Europe 12 August 1807 18070802 32 Harley Street, London, England, United Kingdom 10 August 1886 18860810 Burial: Kensal Green Cemetery, North Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom

Greenwich (1849) 15 and later 32 Harley Street (1886), London, England, United Kingdom

Surgeon Microscopy Pathology Medicine Palaeontology Zoology Natural history Anthropology Education: Dr Hartley's school, Bingley, Yorkshire; articled at the Royal College of Surgeons; St Thomas's Hospital, London; St Bartholomew's Hospital Career: Assistant Surgeon to the Grampus, seamen's hospital ship at Greenwich (1830); transferred from the Grampus to the Dreadnought as assistant surgeon (1832); resident surgeon (by 1837); first surgeon (1841); visiting surgeon (1854); and then consulting surgeon (from 1866); retired from active service and devoted himself to studying natural history (1855); editor of the Microscopical Journal (1842); the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science (1853–68); Natural History Review (1861–5); and the Journal of the Ethnological Society (1869–70); Hunterian professor of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Royal College of Surgeons (1856-1859). Memberships: FRCS MRCS FLS FZS FGS Greenwich Natural History Society (founder and President 1852-1858) Awards/Medals: Lyell Medal Wollaston Medal Parents: Robert Busk (1768–1835), merchant of St Petersburg, and Jane, daughter of John Westly, a customs house clerk at St Petersburg. Grandfather: Sir Wadsworth Busk (1730–1811), attorney-general of the Isle of Man Uncle: Hans Busk the elder (1772–1862), Radnorshire squire and poet. Spouse: Ellen (1816–1890), youngest daughter of Jacob Hans Busk of Theobalds, Hertfordshire. Children: Four daughters. Discovered the pathology of cholera and made important observations on scurvy and contributed several reports on smallpox and typhus fever. As under-secretary of the Linnaean Society, Busk read the famous Darwin-Wallace letter on natural selection to its meeting in 1858. A close associate and friend of Thomas Henry Huxley FRS 1851, with whom he translated and edited several editions of Kolliker's manuals of human histology and of microscopical anatomy. The first to formulate a scientific arrangement of Bryozoa (Polyzoa). Busk's translation of a paper by D. Schaaffhausen appeared in Natural History Review as 'On the crania of the most ancient races of man'. It treated the unusual cranium discovered in the Neander valley which raised the question whether it was a deformed Homo sapiens or a new species of hominid - what would become known as Neanderthal man. Busk identified its similarity to a cranium found years ago in Gibraltar. He visited the Gibraltar caves in 1864 with Hugh Falconer which convinced him that the crania bore characteristics of modern man. Recognised a further skull found at Forbes Quarry, Gibraltar, sent to him by Captain Frederick Brome for examination, as another example of what had become known as Neanderthal man. His work on the Windmill Hill Cave finds, at Brixham, established the contemporaneity of humankind and extinct animals. A monograph, Crania typica, was projected and the plates drawn, but the text was never completed. The first Home Office inspector of laboratories under the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876, which regulated scientific experiments on live animals. On his death, his collection of Bryozoa was presented to the British Museum (Natural History), South Kensington, London. Royal Society roles: VP 1872-1873 Medals and prizes: Royal Medal 1871 Fellow 06/06/1850 43 Golding Bird William Sharpey William Brockedon George Burrows Charles Woodward William Spence John Webster John Peter Gassiot John Arthur Moore Andw C Ramsay J Glaisher Edward Forbes David Thomas Ansted H Bence Jones John Edward Gray Gilbert Wakefield Mackmurdo James Scott Bowerbank Wiliam Benjamin Carpenter George Budd James Moncrieff Arnott Richard Dugard Grainger James Ormiston McWilliam William Bowman George Newport Robert Bentley Todd Robert Gordon Latham Erasmus Wilson Edward Stanley Thomas Wharton Jones William Brockedon Alexander Tweedie William Addison Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Linda Hall Library [URL: https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/george-busk/; last accessed: 30/07/2025]; Royal College of Surgeons of Enngland, Plarr's Lives of the Fellows [URL: https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:372384/one?qu=%22rcs:+E000197%22; last accessed: 30/07/2025] References: Roy M MacLeod, 'The X-Club: A Social Network of Science in Late-Victorian England' in NR 1969 vol 24 pp 305-322 Busk G, IM000692.jpg International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorRaw=Busk%2C+George RCN 50435 RCN 32406 RCN 31968 https://pictures.royalsociety.org/results?mi_search_type=adv&mi_adv_search=yes&adv_person_id=AUTH1408 12 Aug 1807 - 10 Aug 1886 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 30/07/2025 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA8156 21/11/2001 Andyg pmab 02/04/2026 RS_NET\VirginiaM Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/17325622 2a4b9f75-f482-4661-9526-a69bf957fb43