Dr Robert Townson MD

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". ...

LLD (1762–1827) was an English natural historian and traveller, known also a mineralogist and medical man. In 1806 he emigrated to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Early life

He was born at

Richmond, Surrey Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

, the youngest (and illegitimate) child of John Townson (1721–1773) and Sarah Aldcroft née Shewell (1731–1805). His father was a London merchant, his mother was from the Shewell business family, and she was married at the time of his birth to Charles Aldcroft, a

haberdasher __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing st ...

. His parents married in 1766, and John Townson died in 1774. From 1777 the Townson family were in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. Townson, however, was an apprentice in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

from about the time the family moved. He didn't wish to enter commerce, and led an itinerant life that started around 1783.

European travels

In 1787 Townson was studying under the chemist Balthasar Georges Sage at the

École des Mines École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. In 1788 he became a student 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 ...

. 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 ...

in 1791, proposed by

James Hutton James Hutton (; 3 June Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. 1726 – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, Agricultural science, agriculturalist, chemist, chemical manufacturer, Natural history, naturalist and physician. Often referred to a ...

Alexander Monro (secundus) Alexander Monro of Craiglockhart and Cockburn (22 May 1733 – 2 October 1817) was a Scottish anatomist, physician and medical educator. He is typically known as to distinguish him as the second of Alexander Monro (disambiguation), three gen ...

and William Wright. In 1793 Townson made a journey through parts of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. That year he made the first recorded ascents of

Kriváň Kriváň can refer to: * Kriváň (peak), peak in the High Tatras, Slovakia * Veľký Kriváň, the highest peak in Malá Fatra, Slovakia * Kriváň (village) Kriváň () is a village and municipality in Detva District, in the Banská Bystrica Re ...

, a peak in the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

now in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, of

Lomnický štít Lomnický štít (, , , ) is one of the highest and most visited mountain peaks in the High Tatras mountains of Slovakia. Connected by cable car to Tatranská Lomnica, its summit is above sea level, making it the second highest peak in the Hi ...

and of Jahňací štít. In 1795 he graduated M.D. at

Göttingen University Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. Townson was living in Shropshire, at Lydley Hayes near Cardington, when in 1800

Arthur Aikin Arthur Aikin (19 May 177315 April 1854) was an English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer, and was a founding member of the Chemical Society (now the Royal Society of Chemistry). He first became its treasurer in 1841, and later became ...

was seeking him out for assistance on mineralogy. The '' General View of Agriculture'' survey for the county edited by Joseph Plymley (also Corbett, surname changed in 1804) in 1803 contained material published by Townson. His sister Ann had married John Witts (1750–1816), who became vicar of Cardington in 1774.

Australia

Townson aimed to use his knowledge of mineralogy in India, but failed to find work there. At the home of

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James Co ...

he met William Paterson, of the

New South Wales Corps The New South Wales Corps, later known as the 102d Regiment of Foot, and lastly as the 100th Regiment of Foot, was a formation of the British Army organised in 1789 in England to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied ...

. His brother John of the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

was in Australia, returning to England in 1800 for a visit. Townson went there, setting off from England at the end of 1806. He became one of the opponents of

William Bligh William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Royal Navy vice-admiral and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the Muti ...

in the

Rum Rebellion The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was a ''coup d'état'' in the British penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor William Bligh. Australia's first and only military coup, its name derives from the ...

, and received a land grant. Subsequently, Townson showed dissatisfaction with his Australian venture. Firstly all the land grants made after the Rum Rebellion were cancelled.

Lachlan Macquarie Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; ; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie served as the fifth Gove ...

who replaced Bligh visited Townson at home at

Kogarah Bay Kogarah Bay is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 16 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. It is part of the St George area. Kogarah Bay is in the local government area of the Georges Riv ...

, and replacement grants of land were made, with Townson and his brother having a land grant at Varroville, New South Wales; but Townson did nothing to accept the land until Macquarie left office. He thought the land unsuitable, made plans to return to the United Kingdom that fell through, and became reclusive. Townson succeeded in his farming and wine growing. In 1822 he was elected to the Agricultural Society of New South Wales He died on 27 June 1827, and was buried in

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

Works

Townson published: *''Observationes physiologicæ de Amphibiis'', Göttingen, 1794 *''Travels in Hungary'' London, 1797. The book contains an account of Townson's exploration of the Tatra Mountains, in which he was accompanied by Thomas Mauksch. It was published with a map supplement, by Johann Matthias Korabinsky (János Mátyás Korabinszky). *''The Philosophy of Mineralogy'', London, 1798 *''Tracts and Observations in Natural History and Physiology'', London, 1799. This work includes the discovery, claimed as original to Townsend, of how

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

s breathe, in the absence of a

thoracic diaphragm The thoracic diaphragm, or simply the diaphragm (; ), is a sheet of internal Skeletal striated muscle, skeletal muscle in humans and other mammals that extends across the bottom of the thoracic cavity. The diaphragm is the most important Muscles ...

.N. S. Rustum Maluf, ''Robert Townson and the Respiratory Movements of the Tortoise'', Isis Vol. 34, No. 2 (Autumn, 1942), pp. 128–132 at p. 129. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society He contributed a paper "Perceptivity of Plants" to the ''Transactions'' of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

(ii. 267).

Notes

External links

Townson map of Hungary projected
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Townson, Robert 1762 births 1827 deaths English naturalists 19th-century English medical doctors English travel writers English mountain climbers