Claude-Antoine-Gaspard Riche (20 August 1762 – 5 September 1797) was a

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 ...

Bruni d'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux (; 8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Isle de France (Mauritius), governor of Isle de Fran ...

's 1791 expedition in search of the lost ships of

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse Jean-François () is a French given name. Notable people bearing the given name include: * Jean-François Carenco (born 1952), French politician * Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), French Egyptologist * Jean-François Clervoy (born 1958) ...

. Cape Riche, on the south coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, is named in his honour.

Early life

Claude Riche was born in

Chamelet Chamelet () is a Communes of France, commune in the Rhône (department), Rhône Departments of France, department in eastern France. See also Communes of the Rhône department References

Communes of Rhône (department) Beaujolais (pr ...

Beaujolais Beaujolais ( , ) is a French ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) wine in the Burgundy wine, Burgundy region. Beaujolais wines are generally made of the Gamay grape, which has a thin skin and is low in grape tannins, tannin, but like most ...

in France in 1762. His father was an official of the Parliament of Dombes. He was educated at Lyons and then Montpelier, where he studied medicine, apparently without parental approval.

Education

Riche received his doctorate in 1787, after botanical and geological studies in the mountains of Languedoc, Riche moved to Paris in 1788. He co-authored the section on comparative anatomy with Félix Vicq d’Azyr for the Encyclopedie Méthodique and was the founding secretary of the Société Philomatique. He is also believed to have been a member of the Club Jacobin in the early years of the Revolution.

Career

In 1791 he was elected a member of the Société d’histoire naturelle and in the same year joined

's voyage in search of

. The expedition visited Tenerife, Cape of Good Hope, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), New Ireland, Admiralty Islands, Ambon, Esperance Bay (Western Australia), Van Diemen's Land again, Tongatapu and Balade (New Caledonia) before disintegrating on royalist and republican lines in the Dutch East Indies on receiving news of the execution of Louis XVI. Riche appears to have been consumptive and sought appointment as a naturalist on the Espérance because he believed the sea air would benefit his condition. It is also said that he wished to impress the family of a young woman with whom he was in love. Riche’s main responsibilities were the study of minerals, birds and invertebrates, but he also assumed responsibility for meteorological observations and chemical studies. During the expedition’s sojourn at Esperance he became separated from his colleagues for two days and was nearly given up for dead. Like Labillardière, Riche lost his collections when the expedition disintegrated in the Dutch East Indies. He was allowed to sail for the Ile-de-France (

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

) on the ''Scagen'' on 18 July 1794 (in company with Willaumez, Legrand, Laignel, Ventenat and nineteen other crew members). With the assistance of Governor Maures de Malartic’s of the Isle de France (now

), Riche returned to Batavia in November 1794 on the ''Nathalie'' (Captaine Brion), under a flag of truce and carrying Dutch prisoners of war) in the hope of retrieving his papers and collections. Alas, the Dutch ignored his requests and he departed Batavia again on 29 March 1795, on the ''Nathalie'', but nevertheless after having secured the release of

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...

, the artist Jean Piron and some fifty other crew members from the original expedition. He returned to France in June 1796 and died the following year at Mont Dore in the Auvergne.

References

* Edward Duyker, 'Riche, Claude Antoine Gaspard (1762—1797)’, ''Dictionnaire de Biographie mauricienne'', no. 53, octobre 1999, pp. 1709–10. *Edward Duyker, ''Citizen Labillardière: A Naturalist’s Life in Revolution and Exploration (1755—1834)'', Miegunyah/Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2003, , Paperback reprint, 2004, , pp. 383 (including notes, glossaries, zoological, botanical and general index), 12 maps, 18 black and white plates inner, New South Wales Premier’s General History Prize, 2004 *Frank Horner, ''Looking for La Pérouse: D’Entrecasteaux in Australia and the South Pacific, 1792-93'', The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995. *Hélène Richard, ''Le voyage de d'Entrecasteaux à la recherche de Lapérouse'', Editions du Comité des travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, Paris, 1986. *E. P. E. de Rossel, (ed.) ''Voyage de D'Entrecasteaux envoyé à la recherche de La Pérouse'', Paris, 1808.
Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riche, Claude 1762 births 1797 deaths People from Rhône (department) French naturalists