Clarke Abel (5 September 1780 – 24 November 1826) was a British

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

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 ...

. He accompanied Lord Amherst on his mission to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1816-17 as the embassy's chief medical officer and naturalist, on the recommendation of

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James Co ...

. The mission was Britain's second unsuccessful attempt to establish diplomatic relations with China and involved travelling to the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and the famous botanical gardens of Fa Tee (Huadi) near Canton (

Fangcun District Fangcun District () was a former district in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It lay to the southwest of Guangzhou's modern downtown area and south of the Pearl River. It was established in 1949 after the Chinese Communist Party took over Guangzhou fr ...

). While in China, Abel collected specimens and seeds of the plant that carries his name, '' Abelia chinensis'', described by Banks' botanical secretary

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 ...

, "with friendly partiality". However a shipwreck and an attack by pirates on the way back to his home in Britain caused him to lose all of his specimens. Abel's ''Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China'', 1818, gives a detailed account of the collection's misfortunes. However, he had left some specimens with Sir George Staunton at Canton, who was kind enough to return them to him; living specimens of the Chinese Abelia that we know today were introduced by

Robert Fortune Robert Fortune (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880) was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from China, but also Japan, into the gardens of Britain, Australia, an ...

in 1844. In March 1819 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. He was also a member of the

Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

. Abel was the first Western scientist to report the presence of the

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

on the island of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

; the Sumatran Orangutan '' Pongo abelii'' Lesson 1827 is named for him. He went on to become the surgeon-in-chief to Lord Amherst when the earl was appointed

Governor-general of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

. Abel died at

Cawnpore Kanpur ( Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary financial and commercial centre of northern India. Founded ...

, India, 24 November 1826, aged 46. Abel was also the first scientist to describe the Chiru or

Tibetan Antelope The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in ...

, in 1826. It is the only member of the genus Pantholops. In 1919, botanist

Takenoshin Nakai was a Japanese botany, botanist. In 19191919. Notulae and Plantas Japoniae at Koreae X XI. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 33(395): 193–194. and 1930,1930. Plantae Japonicae & Koreanae. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 44(526): 508. he published p ...

published '' Abeliophyllum'', which is a genus of shrubs from

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, in the

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

family,

Oleaceae Oleaceae, also known as the olive family or sometimes the lilac family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales. It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Gree ...

. It was named in Clarke Abel's honour. Then in 2010, Landrein published ''

Diabelia ''Diabelia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species in 33 to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan dis ...

'', which is a genus of shrubs from China and Korea, in the

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species in 33 to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and easte ...

family.

References

* Diana Wells, ''100 Flowers and How They Got their Names'', (Chapel Hill: Algonquin), 1997. * Alice M. Coats, "The Plant Hunters", (London: Studio Vista Limited), 1969. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Clarke 1780 births 1826 deaths 19th-century British surgeons British naturalists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Geological Society of London People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood