Percy Roycroft Lowe (2 January 1870 – 18 August 1948) was an English

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

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 ...

Life

Lowe was born at

Stamford, Lincolnshire Stamford is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701 and estimated at 20,645 in 2019. The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber ...

and studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. He served as a civil surgeon in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, and it was whilst in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

that he became interested in ornithology. On his return he became private physician to

Sir Frederick Johnstone, 8th Baronet Sir Frederick John William Johnstone, 8th Baronet (5 August 1841 – 20 June 1913) was an English racehorse owner and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1885. Johnstone was the son of Sir Frederick Johnst ...

, whose constant travel exposed Lowe to birds all around the world. During World War One he served in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

; he was Officer in Command on Princess Christian Ambulance Train for which he was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1920. Lowe worked with

Dorothea Bate Dorothea Minola Alice Bate (8 November 1878 – 13 January 1951), also known as Dorothy Bate, was a Welsh palaeontologist and pioneer of archaeozoology. Her life's work was to find fossils of recently extinct mammals with a view to understandi ...

on fossil

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

es in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In November 1919 he succeeded

William Robert Ogilvie-Grant William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (25 March 1863 – 26 July 1924) was a Scottish ornithologist. Early life and education Grant was born on 25 March 1863 as the second son of Capt. the Hon. George Henry Essex Ogilvy-Grant, of Easter Elchies, Craigel ...

as Curator of Birds at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

, retiring on his sixty-fifth birthday in 1935. He was succeeded by

Norman Boyd Kinnear Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (11 August 1882 – 11 August 1957) was a Scottish zoologist and ornithologist. Early life Kinnear was the younger son of wealthy Edinburgh architect Charles George Hood Kinnear and his wife, Jessie Jane, and came from ...

. He was editor of the

Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club The ''Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club'' is an ornithology, ornithological scientific journal, journal published by the British Ornithologists' Club (BOC). It is citation, cited as ''Bull. B. O. C.'' Many descriptions of birds Bird sp ...

from 1920 to 1925 and president 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 ...

from 1938 to 1943. In 1933 he was one of eleven people involved in the appeal that led to the foundation of the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The William, Prince of Wales, Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginning In 1931 Max Nicholson ...

(BTO), an organisation for the study of

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the British Isles. His 1936 publication ''The finches of the Galapagos in relation to Darwin's conception of species'' introduced the term ''

Darwin's finches Darwin's finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds. They are well known for being a classic example of adaptive radiation and for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function. They ...

''. In 1939 he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union and in 1946 was awarded the

Godman-Salvin Medal The Godman-Salvin Medal is a medal of the British Ornithologists' Union awarded "to an individual as a signal honour for distinguished ornithological work." It was instituted in 1919 in the memory of Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin. M ...

of the British Ornithological Union. An extinct species of penguin, ''

Archaeospheniscus lowei ''Archaeospheniscus lowei'' is the type species of the extinct penguin genus ''Archaeospheniscus''. It stood approximately 85–115 cm high, between a modern king penguin and an emperor penguin in size. It is known from bones of a single ind ...

'', was named in his honor to recognize his research into penguin fossils.

Publications

* * *

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Percy 1870 births 1948 deaths People from Stamford, Lincolnshire English ornithologists Employees of the Natural History Museum, London Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Royal Army Medical Corps officers English surgeons British Army personnel of World War I Presidents of the British Ornithologists' Union Military personnel from Lincolnshire