Thomas Frederick Cheeseman (8 June 184515 October 1923)
was a New Zealand
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
. He was also a
naturalist who had wide-ranging interests, such that he even described a few species of
sea slugs (marine
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
s).
Biography
Cheeseman was born at
Hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
, in
Yorkshire on 8 June 1845, the eldest of five children.
He came to New Zealand at the age of eight with his parents on the ''Artemesia'', arriving in Auckland on 4 April 1854. He was educated at
Parnell Grammar School Parnell may refer to:
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Surname
*Anna Catherine Parnell (1852–1911), Irish nationalist
*Archie Parnell, American political candidate
*Arthur Parnell (died 1935), British Anglican priest
*Babe Parnell (1901–1982), American football player
...
and then at
St John's College, Auckland
The College of St John the Evangelist or St Johns Theological College, is the residential theological college of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
The site at Meadowbank in Auckland is the base for theological educatio ...
. His father, the Rev. Thomas Cheeseman, had been a member of the old
Auckland Provincial Council.
Cheeseman started studying the flora of New Zealand, and in 1872 he published an accurate and comprehensive account of the plant life of the
Waitākere Ranges.
In 1874, he was appointed Secretary of the
Auckland Institute and Curator of the
Auckland Museum
The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckla ...
, which had only recently been founded. For the first three decades, Cheeseman was the only staff member who worked at the museum, other than the museum's janitor.
Under his curatorship, the museum's collections were formed. His botanical studies were valuable not just academically, but were of importance to
agriculture,
horticulture, and
forestry. He published papers almost every year until his death.
When Cheeseman's research began, the botany of New Zealand was quite poorly known. Cheeseman made many collecting trips including areas such as the
Nelson Provincial District, the
Kermadec and
Three Kings Islands, and the area from
Mangonui to the far north. He sometimes travelled with his friend Mr. J. Adams, of the
Thames High School, after whom he named the species ''
Senecio adamsii'' and ''
Elytranthe adamsii
''Elytranthe'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Loranthaceae.
Its native range is Assam to Southern Central China and Western Malesia.
Species:
*''Elytranthe albida''
*''Elytranthe arnottiana''
*''Elytranthe colletii''
...
''.
Cheeseman also visited
Polynesia. He published in the ''
Transactions of the Linnean Society'' a full account of the flora of
Rarotonga
Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...
, the chief island of the
Cook Islands.
Hundreds of bird specimens added to Auckland Museum's collections by Cheeseman were shot by his younger brother, William Joseph, and their labels bear the tag "W.J.C." The museum could not afford a taxidermist, but Cheeseman's sister
Emma
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* Emma (1932 film), ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* Emma (1996 theatrical film), ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* Emma (1996 TV film), '' ...
learnt the skill and prepared many of the specimens. Her initials "E.C." appear.on the backs of many labels.
His two other sisters,
Ellen, a watercolour painter and botanist, and
Clara, a novelist, also accompanied him on field trips.
Cheeseman married Rosetta Keesing, of a notable Jewish family of Auckland city, in November 1889.
Together, they had two children: Dorothy (later Dorothy Grant-Taylor) and Guy.
Cheeseman died on 15 October 1923.
Bibliography
Out of his 101 papers and books, twenty-two are on
zoological or
ethnological subjects, as opposed to botany.
Many of Cheeseman's botanical publications paved the way for the publication of a complete ''Flora'' of New Zealand. In 1906 he produced the ''Manual of the New Zealand Flora,'' illustrated by his sister Clara Cheeseman. In 1914 he, Hemsley, and
Matilda Smith created ''Illustrations of the New Zealand Flora'' (1914). In some of his publications, Cheeseman speculated as to the possible origins of the New Zealand sub-Antarctic flora. He also had written an early paper on the naturalised plants of the Auckland Provincial District. Some of his early papers were about the pollination of certain species.
As well as his botanical research, Cheeseman developed the Auckland Museum, including what is probably the most extensive collection extant illustrating
Māori ethnology. He donated his own
herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...
of the
flowering plants and vascular
cryptogams to the Auckland Institute.
He published 83 articles in the ''
Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand
The ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand'' was a scientific journal and magazine published by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Before 1933 the society was called the New Zealand Institute, and the journal's name was ...
''.
Cheeseman also named ten sea snails, half of which have become synonyms. Eight marine species were named ''cheesemanii'' after him.
Membership
Cheeseman was a Fellow of the
Linnean Society of London, and the
Zoological Society. He was made a Corresponding Membership of the
Botanical Society of Edinburgh, and awarded the Gold Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society, the botanical equivalent to a Nobel Medal. He served as the President of the
New Zealand Institute from 1911 to 1913.
In 1918, he was awarded the
Hector Memorial Medal and Prize, and in 1919 he was made an original Fellow of the New Zealand Institute.
References
External links
1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheeseman, Thomas
20th-century New Zealand botanists
1846 births
1923 deaths
Scientists from Kingston upon Hull
People educated at St John's College, Auckland
19th-century New Zealand botanists
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
Fellows of the Zoological Society of London
Presidents of the Royal Society of New Zealand
People associated with the Auckland War Memorial Museum
Directors of the Auckland War Memorial Museum
Linnean Medallists
New Zealand naturalists