Geoffrey Nevill (October 5, 1843 – February 10, 1885) was an English

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

who worked in the

Indian Museum Indian Museum (formerly called Imperial Museum of Calcutta) is a grand museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest, as well as the largest museum in Asia, by size of collection. It ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. He was the younger brother of Hugh Nevill, British civil servant in Sri Lanka. Nevill was born in Holloway, the second son of William Nevill, a geologist who lived for sometime in Godalming. He was educated at H.D. Heatley's school in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

and also spent some time in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

at the home of Dr F.H. Troschel, professor of zoology. He took an early interest in molluscs and made collections from around his home at

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

and also from Germany. Most of these were deposited in the

at Calcutta. He then tried to work with his father but poor health led to being sent off to warmer climates and he travelled around South Africa, Mauritius, and Bourbon, continuing his collections. He stayed in the Seychelles from 1868 for some time before going to Calcutta, where he worked at the Indian Museum. His health declined and he moved to Europe, with some time spent in looking at the molluscs around

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

. He died in

Davos Platz Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

, Switzerland, his brother Hugh also collected and researched molluscs from India. Some of Geoffrey's material is in the

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. The

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

lists 51 marine species named by Nevill, many of which were named together with his brother as "Nevill & Nevill".WoRMS: Species named by Nevill
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Published works

Nevill's major work was the two part "Hand list of Mollusca in the Indian Museum", Calcutta (1878-1884)
Part 1Part 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevill, Geoffrey 1843 births 1885 deaths British malacologists British people in colonial India People from the Bengal Presidency