Colonel Richard Henry Beddome (11 May 1830 – 23 February 1911) was a British military officer and naturalist in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, who became chief conservator of the Madras Forest Department. In the mid-19th century, he extensively surveyed several remote and then-unexplored hill ranges in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

south India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and T ...

, including those in the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats pass through Odisha, Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka as well as Telangana. They are eroded and cut ...

such as

Yelandur Yalandur is a taluk and town in Chamarajanagar district in southern Karnataka, India. It has historic and cultural importance in this region. Along with three other taluks, it was officially included into Chamarajanagar district when the distric ...

Kollegal Kollegal is one of the major taluks in the Chamarajanagara District of Karnataka State in the south of India. It is also the largest taluk in Karnataka, Kollegal is well known for its silk industry which attracts traders from all over the sta ...

Shevaroy Hills The Selvarayan hills, with the anglicised name Shevaroy Hills, are a towering mountain range (1620 m) near the city of Salem, in Tamil Nadu state, southern India. It is one of the major hill stations in Tamil Nadu and in the Eastern Ghats. The loc ...

Yelagiri Yelagiri () is a hill station located in the newly formed Tirupattur district of Tamil Nadu, India, situated off the Vaniyambadi- Tirupattur road. Located at an altitude of 1,110.6 metres above Mean Sea Level and spread across 30 km2, the ...

Nallamala Hills The Nallamalas (also called the Nallamalla Range) are a section of the Eastern Ghats which forms the eastern boundary of Rayalaseema region of the state of Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district of the state of Telangana, in India. They run in ...

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

hills, and the Western Ghats such as

Nilgiri hills The Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in northwestern Tamil Nadu, Southern Karnataka, and eastern Kerala in India. They are located at the trijunction of three states and connect the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats. At le ...

Anaimalai hills The Anamala or Anaimalai, also known as the Elephant Mountains, are a range of mountains in the southern Western Ghats of central Kerala ( Idukki district, Ernakulam district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district) and span the border of we ...

Agasthyamalai Hills The Pothigai Hills, also known as Agasthiyar Mountain is a 1,866-metre (6,122 ft)-tall peak in the southern part of the Western Ghats of South India. The peak lies in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu near the border of Kerala. The ar ...

and

Kudremukh Kudremukha(ಕುದುರೆ ಮುಖ) is a mountain range and name of a peak located in Chikkamagaluru district, in Karnataka, India. It is also the name of a small hill station iron ore mining town situated near the mountain, about 20 kilo ...

. He described many

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of plants,

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arb ...

, and

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephali ...

from southern India and Sri Lanka, and several species from this region described by others bear his name.

Early life

Richard was the eldest son of Richard Boswell Brandon Beddome, solicitor, of

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of ...

, S.W. He was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and trained for the legal profession, but preferred to join the East India Company at the age of 18 and joined the 42nd Madras Native Infantry as a cadet at Jabalpur.

Military career

He entered the Army, obtaining a direct cadetship in 1848 in the

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

's service, and sent to India was posted to the 42nd Madras Native Infantry He was with that regiment at

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

in 1856, serving as

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

and interpreter of the regiment, and from there he went to

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South Central Railway ...

. Soon after his arrival at

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

, at the end of 1856, he was appointed to the Madras Forest Department, and never rejoined his regiment. These are dates of his commissions: ensign, 20 January 1848; lieutenant, 10 November 1853; captain, 18 February 1861; major, 20 January 1868; lieutenant colonel, 20 January 1874; colonel, 20 January 1879.

Madras Forest Department

In 1857, he was selected on account of his devotion to

botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "bot ...

and natural history as an assistant to Dr.

Hugh Cleghorn Hugh Cleghorn may refer to: * Hugh Cleghorn (colonial administrator) (1752–1837), first colonial secretary to Ceylon * Hugh Cleghorn (forester) (1820–1895), Scottish physician, botanist, forester and land owner See also * Hugh Clegg (disambig ...

, the first conservator of the newly formed Forest Department of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including th ...

. He succeeded Cleghorn in 1859 and remained Chief Conservator until 1882.

Botanist, herpetologist, malacologist

He became a member of the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

in 1880. He made many floral studies in India and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, including ''Trees of the Madras Presidency'' in 1863 and ''Handbook of the Ferns of British India, Ceylon and Malaya Peninsula'' in 1892. He also studied reptiles, amphibians, and molluscs. Colonel Beddome was essentially a botanist. In the study of the flora of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and T ...

, he devoted the best days of his life. The result was the publication of a series of valuable works containing figures of many species. The drawings were executed with great accuracy by the native draughtsmen he had trained to draw. His botanical publications included ''The Flora Sylvatica for Southern India'', 1869–73; ''Ferns of Southern India'', 1873; ''Ferns of British India'', 1876; ''Forester's Manual of Botany for Southern India'', 1869–74; ''Icones Plantarum Indies Orientalis'', 1874. On

Reptilia Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalian ...

and

Batrachia The Batrachia are a clade of amphibians that includes frogs and salamanders, but not caecilians nor the extinct allocaudates. The name Batrachia was first used by French zoologist Pierre André Latreille in 1800 to refer to frogs, but has mor ...

, he wrote at least 15 papers, and described over 40 new species of reptiles and amphibians. This is a complete list of his papers on Mollusca: ''Descriptions of some new Operculated Land-shells from Southern India and Ceylon'', 1S75. ''Descriptions of Land-shells from the Island of Koror, Pelew Group'', 1889. ''Descriptions of some new Land-shells from the Indian Region'', 1891. ''Notes on Indian and Ceylonese species of Glessula'', 1906. ''Descriptions of Labyrinthus cuclausus and

Neocyclotus ''Neocyclotus'' is a genus of gastropods belonging to the family Neocyclotidae. The species of this genus are found in America. Species: *''Neocyclotus agassizi'' *''Neocyclotus aulari'' *'' Neocyclotus bisinuatus'' *''Neocyclotus burrington ...

Belli, n.spp., from Colombia'', 1908 and in conjunction with

H. H. Godwin-Austen Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen FRS FZS FRGS MBOU (6 July 1834 – 2 December 1923), known until 1854 as Henry Haversham Austen, was an English topographer, surveyor, naturalist and geologist. He explored the mountains ...

: ''New species of Cyclophorus and a

Spiraculum ''Spiraculum'' is a genus of operculate land snails in the subfamily Cyclophorinae of the family Cyclophoridae, native to parts of Asia. Species ;Synonyms: * ''Spiraculum gordoni'' (Benson, 1863): synonym of ''Cyclotus gordoni'' (Benson, 1863 ...

from the Khasi and Naga Hills, Assam''. Beddome described over 1,000 species of animals and plants. Beddome formed a fine collection of land shells from India and other parts of the world, among which the minute forms were his favourites. His collection of specimens was presented to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

at difficult times, and some specimens were also left with the

Indian Museum The Indian Museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in colonial-era texts, is the ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India as well as in Asia. It has rare ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

. Further specimens are also in th
National Museums Scotland
He married Mary Sophia Fullerton in 1862 in London. They had seven children, all christened in the

. He retired in 1892 and lived at "Sispara", West Hill,

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

until his death.

Eponymous species

Some of the species named in his honor are: *''

Rhinolophus beddomei The lesser woolly horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus beddomei''), also called Beddome's horseshoe bat, is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland f ...

'', lesser woolly horseshoe bat, a species of bat in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Rhinolophidae *''

Eutropis beddomei ''Eutropis beddomei'', commonly known as Beddome's mabuya or Beddome's skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to India and Sri Lanka. Etymology ''E. beddomei'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome, 1830-191 ...

'',Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Beddome", p. 21). Beddome's skink, a species of lizard in the family Scincidae *''

Otocryptis beddomii ''Agasthyagama beddomii'', commonly known as the Indian kangaroo lizard, is a diurnal, terrestrial, insectivorous agamid lizard, endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Etymology The specific name, ''beddomii'', is in honor of British ...

'', Beddome's kangaroo lizard, a species of lizard in the family

Agamidae Agamidae is a family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview Phylogenetically, they may be sister to the ...

*'' Ristella beddomii'', Beddome's cat

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. S ...

, a species of lizard endemic to India *''Cnemaspis beddomei'',

Beddome's day gecko Beddome's day gecko (''Cnemaspis beddomei'') is a species of lizard in the Family Gekkonidae endemic to India. Etymology ''C. beddomei'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome, 1830–1911, a British army officer and botanist. Geographic ...

, a species of

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

found in the Western Ghats *''

Kaestlea beddomii ''Kaestlea beddomii'', also known commonly as Beddome's ground skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Etymology ''K. beddomii'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome, a Br ...

'', a species of skink found in the Western Ghats *''

Ophisops beddomei ''Ophisops beddomei'', commonly known as Beddome's snake-eye or Beddome’ s lacerta, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is a diurnal and fast-moving terrestrial lizard, which is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. ...

'', Beddome's snake-eye, a species of lizard in the family

Lacertidae The Lacertidae are the family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at least 300 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group of reptiles found i ...

*''

Gerrhopilus beddomii Beddome's worm snake (''Gerrhopilus beddomii'') is a species of harmless blind snake in the family Gerrhopilidae. The species is native to southern India. No subspecies are currently recognized. Etymology ''G. beddomii'' is named after Richard ...

'', Beddome's worm snake, a species of

blind snake The Scolecophidia, commonly known as blind snakes or thread snakes, are an infraorder of snakes. They range in length from . All are fossorial (adapted for burrowing). Five families and 39 genera are recognized. The Scolecophidia infraorder is mos ...

found in southern India *''

Uropeltis beddomii ''Uropeltis beddomii'', commonly known as Beddome's earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India. Etymology ''U. beddomi'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome (1830–1911), British army offic ...

'', Beddome's shield-tail snake, a species of snake in the family

Uropeltidae The Uropeltidae, also known commonly as the shieldtails or the shield-tailed snakes, are a family of primitive, nonvenomous, burrowing snakes native to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the Greek words ('tail') and (' ...

, endemic to India *''

Boiga beddomei ''Boiga beddomei'', commonly known as Beddome's cat snake, is a species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India, in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa states. Geographic range ''B. beddomei' ...

'', Beddome's cat snake, a species of snake found in Sri Lanka and India (Western Ghats) *''

Hebius beddomei The Nilgiri keelback (''Hebius beddomei''), also known commonly as Beddome's keelback, is a species of snake found in the Western Ghats in India. The species is named after Richard Henry Beddome, 1830–1911, British army officer and natu ...

'', Beddome's keelback, a species of snake found in the Western Ghats *''

Calliophis beddomei Beddome's coral snake (''Calliophis beddomei)'' is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to hills of peninsular India. Etymology ''C. beddomei'' is named after Richard Henry Beddome (1830-1911), British arm ...

'', Beddome's coral snake, a species of venomous snake in the family

Elapidae Elapidae (, commonly known as elapids ; grc, ἔλλοψ ''éllops'' "sea-fish") is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus Emydoce ...

*''

Ichthyophis beddomei ''Ichthyophis beddomei'' is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. This species is distributed widely in the Western Ghats in southern India. The nominal species might be a composite of several cryptic species. It is also known a ...

'', Beddome's caecilian, a species of

caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics ...

in the family

Ichthyophiidae The Ichthyophiidae are the family of Asiatic tailed caecilians or fish caecilians found in South and Southeast Asia as well as southernmost China. They are primitive caecilians, lacking many of the derived characters found in the other familie ...

*''

Duttaphrynus beddomii ''Duttaphrynus beddomii'' (common name: Beddome's toad) is a species of toad endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It is found in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states in the southern Western Ghats at elevations of asl. Description ''Duttaphrynus b ...

'', Beddome's toad, a species of frog endemic to the Western Ghats *''

Raorchestes beddomii ''Raorchestes beddomii'' (Beddome's bubble-nest frog or Beddome's bush frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to southern Western Ghats of southwestern India in Kerala (Athirimala and Munnar) and Tamil Nad ...

'', Beddome's bush frog, a species of frog in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are com ...

*''

Nyctibatrachus beddomii ''Nyctibatrachus beddomii'' (common names: Beddome's night frog, pigmy wrinkled frog, Beddome's dwarf wrinkled frog, and Tirunelveli's hill frog) is a species of frog in the family Nyctibatrachidae. The epithet or specific name, ''beddomii'', ...

'', Beddome's night frog, a species of frog in the family

Nyctibatrachidae Nyctibatrachidae is a small family of frogs found in the Western Ghats of India and in Sri Lanka. Their common name is robust frogs. Recognition of Nyctibatrachidae as a family is fairly recent. These frogs were earlier on placed in the broadly ...

*'' Indirana beddomii'', Beddome's litter frog, a species of frog in the family

Ranixalidae Ranixalidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the leaping frogs or Indian frogs. They are endemic to central and southern India. Genera There are two genera with a total 18 species: *'' Indirana'' Laurent, 1986 — 14 species *''Walkerana' ...

*''

Mariaella beddomei ''Mariaella beddomei'' is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Ariophantidae. The specific name is in honor of Richard Henry Beddome. Distribution This species lives in India. It ...

'', a species of gastropod *''

Hemiplecta beddomii ''Hemiplecta'' is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Ariophantinae of the family Ariophantidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Hemiplecta Albers, 1850. A ...

'', a species of gastropod *''

Cycas beddomei ''Cycas beddomei'' is a species of cycad in the genus ''Cycas'', native to India, where it is confined to a small area of Andhra Pradesh state in the Tirumala Hills in scrubland and brush covered hills. Superficially similar to ''Cycas revol ...

'', a species of

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or f ...

from India *''

Syzygium beddomei ''Syzygium beddomei'' is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of I ...

'', a species of plant in the family

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All spe ...

endemic to India *''

Cynometra beddomei ''Cynometra beddomei'' is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. It was described from a single tree in the Kerala Western Ghats of India. In 1998 it was declared extinct as it had never been seen again since 1870. Trees of the species have ...

'', a species of plant in the family Fabaceae endemic to India *''

Psychotria beddomei ''Psychotria beddomei'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation A ...

'', a species of plant in the family

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

endemic to India *''

Litsea beddomei ''Litsea beddomei'' is a species of plant in the family Lauraceae. It is endemic to India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous ...

'', a species of plant in the family

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur m ...

endemic to India *''

Beddomixalus bijui ''Beddomixalus'' is a monotypic genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. The only described species, ''Beddomixalus bijui'', is endemic to the Western Ghats, India. Its name is derived from a combination of the cognomen of Richard Henry Bed ...

'', a species of tree frog in the family

References

External links

* *
Handbook to the ferns of British India (1892)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beddome 1830 births 1911 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School British Indian Army officers British botanists Botanists with author abbreviations British zoologists Naturalists of British India People of British Ceylon British malacologists

Early life

Military career

Madras Forest Department

Botanist, herpetologist, malacologist

Eponymous species

References

Further reading

External links