William Theobald (1829 – 31 March 1908) was a malacologist and naturalist on the staff of the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

serving in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, then a part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Biography

Very little is known of Theobald's early life. Theobald was referred to in official documents as "William Theobald, Junior". He arrived in Calcutta on the ship ''Hindostan'' via the

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

in March 1847 and worked as a volunteer in the coal exploration of the upper Damodar and Son valleys under David Williams. During this time Joseph Hooker visited him and they spent time together. Later Theobald became an assistant to John McClelland who took over the exploration from David Williams. He went to Burma in 1855 as a staff of the Geological Survey of India and took over the ''Pegu survey''. He returned Bengal on completion of the survey in 1873 to be appointed Deputy Superintendent of Bengal in 1876.Mabberley DJ (1985). "William Theobald (1829-1908): Unwitting Reformer of Botanical Nomenclature?". ''Taxon'' 34 (1): 152-156. From 1868 to 1876 he described a dozen new species of reptiles. Theobald was the first to publish a full catalogue of reptile specimens collected in British India, ''Descriptive Catalogue of the Reptiles of British India'' (1876), although Anderson claimed that several new descriptions by

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...

were overlooked by this work.Chandal SK, Das I, Dubois A (2000). "Catalogue of Amphibian Types in the Collection of the Zoological Survey of India". ''Hamadryad'' 25 (2): 100–128
PDF
/ref> Theobald's work on Indian freshwater snails with illustrations was one of the first of its kind.Hanley SCT, Theobald W (1876). "''Conchologia Indica'': illustrations of the land and fresh-water shells of British India". L. Reeve & Co. p. 65 He even made his shell collections available to Francis Mason for his epic work on the flora and fauna of British

titled ''Burmah, its People and Natural Productions''. The third edition of this work was completely rewritten by Theobald and was published in two volumes under the title ''Burma, its people and productions; or notes on the fauna, flora and minerals of Tenasserim, Pegu and Burma'' (Hertford, England, 1882 & 1883). The first volume of this work covered geology, mineralogy and zoology and was exclusively written by him while the second volume relied on several important botanical works of his time. The

phanerogam A spermatophyte (; ), also known as phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds, hence the alternative name seed plant. Spermatophytes are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants. They inc ...

ic information came from printed works of Sulpiz Kurz on the Burmese flora and from the entries in

Edward Balfour Edward Green Balfour (6 September 1813 – 8 December 1889) was a Scottish surgeon, orientalist and pioneering environmentalist in India. He founded museums at Madras and Bangalore, a zoological garden in Madras and was instrumental in raising ...

's works. He also relied on Le Maout's and

Decaisne Decaisne is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Henri Decaisne (1799–1852), Belgian historical and portrait painter * Joseph Decaisne Joseph Decaisne (7 March 1807 – 8 January 1882) was a French botanist and agronomist. He b ...

's general system of botany translated by Mrs. Hooker and on Gamble's ''Manual of Indian Timbers''. However, his efforts at reforming botanical nomenclature conflicted with the British Botanical establishment at that time a majority in British India and his botanical works were largely disregarded. He retired from the service in June 1881 and died at Ilfracombe,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England on 31 March 1908. A photograph of him as member of a group of the Geological Survey of India was published in the Centenary publication of the Geological Survey of India.

Legacy

Theobald is commemorated in the scientific names of two Asian reptiles: '' Oligodon theobaldi'' and '' Phrynocephalus theobaldi''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Theobald", p. 264).

Bibliography

* 1860
''Catalogue of the recent shells in the Museum, Asiatic Society of Bengal''
* 1868
''Catalogue of reptiles in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal''
* 1876
''Descriptive catalogue of the reptiles of British India''
* 1876. ''Conchologia Indica: Illustrations of the Land and Freshwater Shells of British India'' Along with

Sylvanus Charles Thorp Hanley Sylvanus Charles Thorp Hanley (1819–1899) was a British conchologist and malacologist who published the first book on shells using the then new technique of photography. He authored ''Conchologia indica'' with William Theobald which was a treat ...

. Malacological Society of London
Link on Google Books
* 1889
''Index of the genera and species of Mollusca in the hand list of the Indian Museum''
1-2. Gastropoda, Calcutta. * 1896
''On the authorship of the sonnets attributed to Shakespeare. An inquiry into the respective claims of Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, and others, to be their author''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theobald, William 1829 births 1908 deaths British malacologists