Sir Edward Newton (10 November 1832 – 25 April 1897) was a British colonial administrator and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. He was born at

Elveden Hall Elveden Hall is a large stately home on the Elveden Estate in Elveden, Suffolk, England. The seat of the Earls of Iveagh, it is a Grade II* listed building. Located centrally to the village, it is close to the A11 and the Parish Church. It is cur ...

, Suffolk the sixth and youngest son of William Newton, MP. He was the brother of ornithologist

Alfred Newton Alfred Newton Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an England, English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous public ...

. He graduated from

Magdelene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

in 1857 and was one of the twenty founding members of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (ornithology) around the world in order to understand their biology and aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry Baker ...

. Newton was the Colonial Secretary for

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 ...

from 1859 to 1877. From there he sent his brother a number of specimens, including the

dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinction, extinct flightless bird that was endemism, endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest relative was the also-extinct and flightles ...

and the

Rodrigues solitaire The Rodrigues solitaire (''Pezophaps solitaria'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemism, endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Genetically within the family of Columbidae, pigeons and doves, it wa ...

, both already extinct. In 1878, Newton initiated the first laws anywhere specifically designed to protect indigenous land birds from persecution. Edward was later Colonial Secretary and Lieutenant-Governor of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

(1877–1883). He married Mary Louisa Cranstoun, daughter of W.W.R. Kerr in 1869. She died the following year. He is commemorated in the binomial of the

Malagasy kestrel The Malagasy kestrel (''Falco newtoni''), also known as the Madagascar kestrel, Malagasy spotted kestrel, Newton's kestrel, Madagascar spotted kestrel, ''katiti'' ( Creole) or ''hitsikitsika'' ( Malagasy), is a small bird of prey of the genus '' ...

, ''Falco newtoni''. ''

Phelsuma edwardnewtoni The Rodrigues day gecko (''Phelsuma edwardnewtoni''), also known commonly as the Rodrigues blue-dotted day gecko, is an extinct species of day gecko, a lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, where it ...

'', a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

, is named in his honour. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Edward Newton", p. 80).

Bibliography

* * (with five plates) was translated into French in 1894

References

1832 births 1897 deaths People from Elveden British ornithologists Colonial Administrative Service officers British Mauritius people Zoological collectors Colonial secretaries of Jamaica Knights_Commander_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George {{Mauritius-politician-stub