Thomas Campbell Eyton JP, DL (10 September 1809 – 25 October 1880) was an English

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

whose fields were cattle, fishes and birds. He was a friend and correspondent of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

though he opposed his theories. Eyton was born at Eyton Hall, near

Wellington, Shropshire Wellington is a market town and a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It is situated northwest of Telford and east of Shrewsbury, near the western terminus of the M54 motorway. The summit of The Wrekin lie ...

. He studied at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he was a contemporary and friend of

. After succeeding to the estate in 1855, Eyton built a large natural history museum at Eyton Hall that included a range of bird skins and skeletons, described as "one of the finest in Europe". Besides Darwin, Eyton enjoyed some correspondence with other naturalists including

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

, and

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

. Eyton published ''History of the Rarer British Birds'' (1836), ''A Monograph on the Anatidae, Or Duck Tribe'' (1838), ''A History of Oyster and Oyster Fisheries'' (1858) and ''Osteologia Avium'' (1871–78). He established in about 1842 the ''Herd Book of Hereford Cattle'', which he edited until 1860 Eyton was married in 1835 to Elizabeth Frances Slaney, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Robert Aglionby Slaney MP. She pre-deceased him by ten years. He was a justice of the peace (JP) and a deputy lieutenant of Shropshire. He served in the South Salopian Yeomanry Cavalry, entering as cornet in 1830, and promoted lieutenant in 1838. He also played county level cricket for

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 ...

between 1844 and 1854. Eyton's daughter, Charlotte Eyton was an amateur geologist, who wrote on the geology of the Wrekin.

References

*Mullens and Swann – ''A Bibliography of British Ornithology'' 1809 births 1880 deaths English ornithologists Fellows of the Zoological Society of London People from Wellington, Shropshire Shropshire Yeomanry officers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Deputy lieutenants of Shropshire English naturalists Eyton upon the Weald Moors {{UK-ornithologist-stub

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