Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American

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 ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

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 The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

Museum in London.

Early life

Horsfield was born in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

, and studied medicine at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr. (1708-1773), who was born in Liverpool and emigrated to New York in 1725. The Horsfield family converted from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

to Moravianism, a Protestant denomination with a strong emphasis on education. In 1748, he moved his family to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and joined them the next year. Horsfield's father was Timothy Horsfield, Jr. and he married Juliana Sarah Parsons in 1738. Thomas Horsfield was born in Bethlehem on May 12, 1773. He was educated at the Moravian schools in Bethlehem and

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1798. His thesis on the physiological effects of

poison ivy Poison ivy is a type of allergenic plant in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' native to Asia and North America. Formerly considered a single species, '' Toxicodendron radicans'', poison ivies are now generally treated as a complex of three separate s ...

demonstrated his interest in botany.

Travels in Asia

In 1799, he accepted a post as surgeon on the vessel ''China'', a merchant vessel that was to sail to

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. He passed through Batavia and was struck by the beauty of the region. In 1801, he applied to be a surgeon with the Dutch Colonial Army in Batavia. Taking up appointment there, he took an interest in the flora, fauna, and geology of the region. In particular, he studied the botany and the insects of the region. One of the first of many species to named after him was the butterfly, '' Taenaris horsfieldii''. The

took control of the island from the Dutch in 1811, and Horsfield began to collect natural history specimens on behalf of the governor and friend Sir

Thomas Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British Colonial Office, colonial official who served as the List of governors of the Dutch East Indies, governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieut ...

. In 1816, Java was restored to the Dutch and Horsfield moved west to Sumatra. In 1819, he was forced to leave the island due to ill health, and returned to London on board the ''Lady Raffles''.

England

On returning to London, Horsfield continued to be in contact with Sir Stamford Raffles and became a keeper of the museum of the East India Company on

Leadenhall Street __NOTOC__ Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill, London, Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road (England), A11 road from London to Norwich, but th ...

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 ...

, working under Charles Wilkins. He stayed in this position, later as a

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

, until his death on July 24, 1859. Horsfield took an interest in geology, botany, zoology, and entomology. He was influenced by William Sharp Macleay and his quinarian system of classification. He was a fellow of the

Royal Society 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, re ...

of London (1828) and a fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

(1820), later becoming a vice president. In 1828, he was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. Horsfield was appointed assistant secretary of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

at its formation in 1826. In 1833, he was a founder of what became the

Royal Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1828. In 1838, he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands; when that became the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1851, he joined as foreign member. Horsfield died at his home in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

and was buried at the Moravian cemetery in Chelsea.

Published works

Horsfield wrote ''Zoological Researches in Java and the Neighbouring Islands'' (1824). He also classified a number of birds with

Nicholas Aylward Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Ireland, Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow, in 1 ...

, most notably in their ''A Description of the Australian Birds in the Collection of the

; With an Attempt at Arranging them According to Their Natural Affinities'' (Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. (1827)). Together with the botanists

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

and John Joseph Bennett he published the ''Plantae Javanicae rariores'' (1838–52).

Legacy

Horsfield is commemorated in the names of a number of animals and plants, including: * Javanese flying squirrel, '' Iomys horsfieldii'' * Horsfield's fruit bat, '' Cynopterus horsfieldi'' * Horsfield's shrew, '' Crocidura horsfieldi'' * Horsfield's bat, '' Myotis horsfieldii'', a species of small bat in the family

Vespertilionidae Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat familie ...

* Horsfield's flying gecko, '' Gekko horsfieldii'', a species of Asian gliding lizard Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Horsfield", p. 125). *

Russian tortoise The Russian tortoise (''Testudo horsfieldii)'', also commonly known as the Afghan tortoise, the Central Asian tortoise, the four-clawed tortoise, the four-toed tortoise, Horsfield's tortoise, the Russian steppe tortoise, the Soviet Tortoise, an ...

, ''Testudo horsfieldii'' * Horsfield's spiny lizard, '' Salea horsfieldii'', a species of agamid lizard found in southern India in the Nilgiri and Palni Hills * Malabar whistling thrush, '' Myophonus horsfieldii'', a bird found in peninsular India * Indian scimitar-babbler, '' Pomatorhinus horsfieldii'', an

Old World babbler The Old World babblers or Timaliidae, are a family (biology), family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft, fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the g ...

found in peninsular India * White's thrush (Horsfield's thrush), '' Zoothera horsfieldi'', a resident bird in Indonesia. * Oriental cuckoo, '' Cuculus horsfieldi'' * Horsfield's bronze cuckoo, '' Chrysococcyx basalis'' * Common darkie, '' Paragerydus horsfieldii'', a small butterfly found in India * '' Arhopala horsfieldi'', a butterfly of the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...

found in Asia * South Indian blue oakleaf, '' Kallima horsfieldii'', a nymphalid butterfly found in India * '' Horsfieldia'', a plant genus in the family

Myristicaceae The Myristicaceae are a family of flowering plants native to Africa, Asia, Pacific islands, and the Americas and has been recognized by most taxonomists. It is sometimes called the "nutmeg family", after its most famous member, '' Myristica fragr ...

native to Southeast Asia * Horsfield's Tarsier, '' Cephalopachus bancanus'' Zoological and botanical specimens collected by Horsfield are deposited in museums and herbaria across the world, including at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

of the United Kingdom, the

Kew Herbarium The Kew Herbarium (herbarium code: K) is one of the world's largest and most historically significant herbaria, housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, England. Established in the 1850s on the ground floor of Hunter House, it has gro ...

, and the

National Herbarium of Victoria The National Herbarium of Victoria (Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.56 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known ...

(MEL),

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) are botanical garden, botanic gardens across two sites–Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Melbourne and Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, Cranbourne. Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846 when land w ...

References

External links

Thomas Horsfield – An American Enigma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsfield, Thomas 1773 births 1859 deaths American entomologists American naturalists American ornithologists British East India Company people Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Members of the American Philosophical Society