John Stephenson CIE FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRCS (6 February 1871, in

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Calder, Lancashire, River Calder, in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, Lancashire, England. It is located north west of Burnley, and north ea ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

– 2 February 1933, in London) was a surgeon and zoologist. He was a leading expert on the

earthworm An earthworm is a soil-dwelling terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. The term is the common name for the largest members of the class (or subclass, depending on the author) Oligochaeta. In classical systems, they we ...

s of the Indian subcontinent and served as editor of the ''

Fauna of British India ''The Fauna of British India'' (short title) with long titles including ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', and ''The Fauna of British India Including the Remainder of the Oriental Region'' is a series of scientific books t ...

'' series from 1927. Knowledgeable in Persian, Hindustani and some Arabic, he was also an orientalist scholar and translated several works from Persian to English.

Life

Stephenson was born in Padiham and was education at

Burnley Grammar School Burnley Grammar School was latterly, a state-funded selective boys' grammar school, situated in Byron Street in Burnley, Lancashire. However, during its long history, it moved between a number of sites in the town. History In 1552, on the orde ...

, matriculated from

Owen's College, Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Af ...

and graduated there with a B.Sc. (Lond.) in 1890 and M.B., B.Chir. (Manc.) in 1893. Stephenson was a house physician from 1893 to 1894 at the

Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...

and then in 1894 at the Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, London. He had also studied zoology under A. Milnes Marshall. He joined the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

as a lieutenant on 29 July 1895. He became captain on 29 July 1898, major on 29 January 1907, and lieutenant-colonel on 29 January 1915, retiring with that rank on 6 September 1921. On 14 December 1905 Stephenson was elected a Fellow of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

in London. In 1909 he received an honorary doctorate (DSc) from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. The Lahore Medical College did not find qualified teachers in zoology and Stephenson was invited by his friend the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, Sir

Denzil Ibbetson Sir Denzil Charles Jelf Ibbetson (30 August 1847 – 21 February 1908)Talbot (2012). was an administrator in British India and an author. He served as Deputy Commissioner of Karnal district from 1892 to 1893. He served as Chief- ...

. In 1906 he became Professor of Biology at the Government College in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and in 1912 became Professor of Zoology and also Principal of the College. He retained these posts until he left the Indian Medical Service early in 1920, and returned to Britain. In 1912 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Charles Robertson Marshall Charles Robertson Marshall FRSE was an early 20th century British physician. Life In May 1894 he became assistant to Prof John Buckley Bradbury at Cambridge University. He left in 1899 to become Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at S ...

, Arthur Robinson,

D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait ...

and

William Peddie 250px, William Peddie (ca 1910) William Peddie FRSE LLD (31 May 1861 – 2 June 1946) was a Scottish physicist and applied mathematician, known for his research on colour vision and molecular magnetism. Life He was born in Papa Westray in Orkney ...

. He won the Society's Keith Medal for the period 1917 to 1919. He was made CIE in 1919. From 1920 to 1929 he was a lecturer in Zoology at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Stephenson was proficient in Hindustani, Persian and later studied Pashtu, Punjabi and had some knowledge of Arabic. He translated into English and published in 1910 the ''

Hadiqat al Haqiqa The Mathnawi (poetic form), mathnawi ''Hadiqat al-Haqiqa va Shari'at al-Tariqa'' () or ''Elahi-Nameh'' () is an early Sufi book of poetry written in the Persian language, composed by Sanai, Sanai Ghaznavi, with an Irfan theme. Sanai started ...

'', a work by the

sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

poet Sanā'i. He left Edinburgh University in 1929 to work at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

as editor of the ''Fauna of British India'' series following the death of

Arthur Shipley Sir Arthur Everett Shipley (10 March 1861 – 22 September 1927) was an English zoologist and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Shipley specialised in the study of parasitic worms. Biography Shipley was born in Walton-on-Thames, ...

Family

In 1895 he married Gertrude Bayne, who outlived him. There were no children from the marriage.

Awards and honours

*1912 — Fellow of the

*1919 — Commander of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

*1930 — Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

In 1914, botanist S.R. Kashyap published '' Stephensoniella'', a genus of liverwort in (

Exormothecaceae Exormothecaceae is a family of liverworts in the order Marchantiales. Genera in the family Exormothecaceae The family includes three genera: * ''Aitchisoniella ''Aitchisoniella himalayensis'' is a species of liverwort in the family Exormot ...

family) and named in his honour.

Selected publications

*as author: ** ** ** *as translator: **

References

External links

Plarr's Lives of Fellows - Royal College of Surgeons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, John 1871 births 1933 deaths Alumni of the University of Manchester Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Indian Medical Service officers People educated at Burnley Grammar School People from Padiham Military personnel from Lancashire 19th-century British military personnel Indian Army personnel of World War I