John Henry Vaughan, MC, QC (9 February 1892 – 16 April 1965) was a lawyer 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 ...

who served as Attorney General of Zanzibar and later as

Attorney General of Fiji The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in Fiji. The attorney-general is the chief law officer of the State, and has responsibility for supervising Fijian law and advising the government on legal matters. Like other members of th ...

Early life

Vaughan was educated at

Eastbourne College Eastbourne College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, for boarding school, boarding and Day school, day pupils aged 13–18, in ...

and then studied law at Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Career

He is best known for his work in the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

's legal service as Attorney General of Zanzibar in the 1930s, and then as

from 1945 to 1949. His work, ''The Dual Jurisdiction in Zanzibar,'' described the

Protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

's system of indirect

British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...

, whereby

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

technically remained with the

Sultan of Zanzibar The sultans of Zanzibar (; ) were the rulers of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which was created on 19 October 1856 after the death of Said bin Sultan. He had ruled Oman and Zanzibar as the sultan of Oman since 1804. The sultans of Zanzibar were of ...

but with virtually all effective power in the hands of British-appointed officials. He was also a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

who collected plants from what is now

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. He put together an important collection of plants from

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

and the eastern provinces of Tanganyika.

Personal life

He married Thelma Green in 1925 and became a keen

. Their son was the eminent historian Richard Vaughan, who was also a noted ornithologist.

Legacy

The

Pemba white-eye The Pemba white-eye (''Zosterops vaughani'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to Tanzania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or ...

derives its scientific name, ''Zosterops vaughani'', from John Henry Vaughan, after whom it was named.

Publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, John Henry 1892 births 1965 deaths Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge English ornithologists British Army personnel of World War I Attorneys general of the Colony of Fiji Attorneys-general of Fiji Chief justices of Fiji Attorneys-general of the Sultanate of Zanzibar Colonial Service officers British expatriates in British Fiji British expatriates in the Sultanate of Zanzibar British Western Pacific Territories people 20th-century English zoologists 20th-century English lawyers