John Martyn (botanist)
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John Martyn or Joannes Martyn (12 September 1699 – 29 January 1768) was an English
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
.


Life

Martyn was born in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, the son of a merchant. He attended a school in the vicinity of his home, and when he turned 16, worked for his father, intending to follow a business career. He married Marie Anne Fonnereau, daughter of Claude Fonnereau, a
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
refugee who had settled in England and become a successful merchant. Martyn abandoned his business pursuits in favour of medical and botanical studies. His interest in botany came from his acquaintance with an apothecary, John Wilmer, and Dr. Patrick Blair, a surgeon-apothecary from
Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
who practiced in London. Martyn gave some botanical lectures in London in 1721 and 1726, and in 1727 was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
. Martyn was one of the founders (with
Johann Jacob Dillenius Johann Jacob Dillen Dillenius (1684 – 2 April 1747) was a German botanist. He is known for his ''Hortus Elthamensis'' ("Eltham Garden") on the rare plants around Eltham, London, and for his ''Historia muscorum'' ("History of Mosses"), a natu ...
and others) and the secretary of a botanical society which met for a few years in the Rainbow coffee-house, Watling Street. In 1732 he was appointed Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, but, finding little encouragement and hampered by a lack of equipment, he soon ceased lecturing. He retained his professorship, however, until 1768, when he resigned in favour of his son Thomas. On resigning the botanical chair at Cambridge he presented the university with a number of his botanical specimens and books. John Martyn married Eulalia King, daughter of John King (1652–1732), rector of Pertenhall in Bedfordshire and Chelsea in London. Their son, Thomas Martyn (1735–1825) was also an eminent botanist, author of ''Flora rustica'' (1792–1794). After the death of his first wife, John Martyn married Mary Anne Fonnereau, daughter of Claude Fonnereau, merchant of London and Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, and the brother of Thomas Fonnereau. Although he had not taken a medical degree, he long practised as a
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
at Chelsea, which is where he died in 1768. His son Thomas wrote a memoir of his father in 1770. An expanded version of this memoir was prepared and published by George Gorham in 1830.


Work

He is best known for his ''Historia Plantarum Rariorum'' (1728–1737, illustrated by Jacob van Huysum), and his translation, with valuable agricultural and botanical notes, of the
Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...
(1749) and
Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek language, Greek word , ''geōrgiká'', i.e. "agricultural hings) the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from bei ...
(1741) of
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
. Editions continued to be issued after his death. With Ephraim Chambers, author of the famous '' Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'', he abridged and translated the ''Philosophical History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris'', which was published in 1742.Académie royale des sciences. ''The Philosophical History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris''. Trans. John Martyn and Ephraim Chambers. 5 vols. London: John and Paul Knapton; Francis Cogan; and John Nourse, 1742. He also started the '' Grub Street Journal'', a weekly satirical review, which lasted from 1730 to 1737.


Publications

* (see also, Bucolics) *
1st ed 1749
*
2nd ed 1749
*
1829 edition
For a full list, see Gorham p. 78 File:Historia Plantarum Rariorum00.jpg File:Cotyledon africana00.jpg,


References


Bibliography

*


External links




Donald Heald prints
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martyn, John 1699 births 1768 deaths 18th-century British botanists Botanists with author abbreviations Fellows of the Royal Society Professors of Botany (Cambridge)