Leonard Harrison Matthews FRS (12 June 1901 – 27 November 1986) was a British zoologist, especially known for his research and writings on

marine mammal Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...

Life

Matthews was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and attended

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

. He studied

biological sciences Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he graduated with a first-class degree in 1922. He was involved with the

British Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

backed

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, ...

from 1924 to 1929, during which he was largely based on the

subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46th parallel south, 46° and 60th parallel south, 60° south of t ...

island of

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

studying the biology of

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s and

southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its ...

s. He then held an academic position at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he worked on radio communications and radar. He served as scientific director of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

from 1951 to 1966. His younger brother was the physiologist Sir

Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews Sir Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews, (14 June 1906 – 23 July 1986) was Professor of Physiology, Cambridge University 1952–1973, emeritus professor thereafter and Life Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Matthews was educated at Clifton Colleg ...

CBE FRS and his uncle the chemical scientist Lt-Col Edward Frank Harrison, inventor of the first serviceable gas mask.

Honours

* 1954 –

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Harrison Point ''For the point in Barbados, see Harrison Point, Barbados'' Harrison Point is a point marked by a string of off-lying rocks, lying west of Busen Point on the south side of Stromness Bay, South Georgia. It was charted in 1927 by Discovery Inve ...

and

Matthews Point Undine Harbour () is a small bay at the head of the embayment between Cape Paryadin and Cape Chaplin on the south coast of South Georgia. Location Undine Harbour is near the west end of South Georgia, to the south of a narrow isthmus that sepa ...

in South Georgia are named after him

Publications

As well as numerous scientific papers and reports, Matthews also authored several books about his experiences in South Georgia. His publications include: * 1931 – ''South Georgia, the Empire's Sub-Antarctic Outpost''. John Wright & Sons: Bristol. * 1934 – ''The Marine Deposits of the Patagonian Continental Shelf''. (Discovery Reports). Cambridge University Press. * 1937 – ''The Humpback whale, Megaptera Nodosa'', (Discovery reports). Cambridge University Press. * 1938 – ''The Sei whale, Balaenoptera Borealis''. (Discovery reports). Cambridge University Press. * 1938 – ''Notes on the Southern Right whale, Eubalaena Australis''. (Discovery reports). Cambridge University Press. * 1938 – ''The Sperm whale, Physeter Catodon''. (Discovery reports). Cambridge University Press. * 1939 – ''Reproduction in the Spotted Hyena''. Cambridge University Press, for the Royal Society. * 1951 – ''Wandering Albatross: Adventures among the Albatrosses and Petrels in the Southern Ocean''. London. Macgibbon & Kee, with Reinhardt & Evans: London. * 1952 – ''The British Amphibia and Reptiles''. (Field study books series). Methuen: London. * 1952 – ''British mammals''. (New Naturalist 21). Collins: London. * 1952 – ''Sea Elephant: The Life and Death of the Elephant Seal''. MacGibbon & Kee: London. * 1956 – The sexual skin of the Gelada Baboon (''Theropithecus gelada''). ''Transactions of the Zoological Society of London''. * 1962 – ''History of Pharmacy in Britain''. E. & S. Livingstone: Edinburgh. * 1963 – ''The Senses of Animals''. (With Maxwell Knight). Scientific Book Club: London. * 1968 – ''The Whale''. Allen & Unwin: London. * 1969-1971 – ''The Life of Mammals''. (2 vols). Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London. * 1973 – ''Charles Waterton: Wanderings in South America''. (Editor and Introduction). Oxford University Press: Oxford. * 1975 – ''Man and Wildlife''. (Biology and Environment series). Croom Helm: London. * 1977 – ''Penguin. Adventures among the Birds, Beasts and Whalers of the Far South''. Peter Owen: London. * 1978 – ''The Natural History of the Whale''. Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London. * 1979 – ''The Seals and the Scientists''. Peter Owen: London. * 1982 – ''Mammals in the British Isles''. (New Naturalist 68). Collins: London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Leonard Harrison 1901 births 1986 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British mammalogists British nature writers South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands people Scientists from Bristol Fellows of the Royal Society Cetologists New Naturalist writers 20th-century British zoologists People educated at Bristol Grammar School