Thomas Davidson (17 May 181714 October 1885) was a British

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Biography

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. His parents possessed considerable landed property in

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

. Educated partly in 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 ...

and partly in France, Italy and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and early acquiring an interest in natural history, he benefited greatly by acquaintance with foreign languages and literature, and with men of science in different countries. He was induced in 1837, through the influence of

Leopold von Buch Christian Leopold von Buch (26 April 1774 – 4 March 1853), usually cited as Leopold von Buch, was a German geologist and paleontologist born in Stolpe an der Oder (now a part of Angermünde, Brandenburg) and is remembered as one of the most im ...

, to devote his special attention to the

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...

a, and in course of time he became the highest authority on this group. The great task of his life was the ''Monograph of British Fossil Brachiopoda'', published by the Palaeontographical Society (1850–1886). This work, with supplements, comprises six quarto volumes with more than 200 plates drawn on stone by the author. He also prepared an exhaustive memoir on ''Recent Brachiopoda'', published by 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 ...

. He monographed the entire series of Brachiopoda collected by HMS Challenger. Davidson benefited from an introduction to Elizabeth Gray by John Young in 1865. Gray had a lifelong interest in the fossils of

Girvan Girvan (, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies south of Ayr, and north of St ...

in Scotland. Her family took their holidays there each year and they would devote their time to gathering cleaning and labelling fossils. Gray had some basic geology training, but she preferred to let others do the scientific descriptions. Gray would send collections of fossils, including brachiopoda, regularly over several years between 1867 and 1885. Davidson also worked closely with British paleontologist Agnes Crane, who completed the editing work on Davidson's final, posthumous, ''Monograph of Recent Brachiopoda''. He was elected fellow of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1852 and in 1865 awarded their

Wollaston medal The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology and the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London, the oldest geological society in the world. The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831. I ...

. He was elected

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 ...

in 1857, and in 1870 received a Royal medal from the Royal Society. In 1882, the degree of

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

was conferred upon him by the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. In 1866, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. Davidson died at

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

on 14 October 1885, bequeathing his fine collection of recent and fossil brachiopoda to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. He was buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church,

Twineham Twineham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located to the west of Burgess Hill. The civil parish covers an area of In the 2001 census 271 people lived in 100 households, of whom 139 were ...

. (His son, William Davidson, had inherited Hickstead Place and the Manor of Twineham through his wife, the daughter of John Wood, of Hickstead Place.)

Monograph of British Fossil Brachiopoda

Davidson Carboniferous Brachiopoda Spirifer striatus

This was published in multiple parts in the series ''Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society'' in Volumes IV to XXXIX, not always in sequence. Volume numbers within the brachiopod monograph are shown below with arabic numerals, e.g. Vol. 4, while volume numbers of the series are shown with roman numerals, e.g. Volume IV.
Vol. 1. The Tertiary, Cretaceous, Oolitic and Liassic Brachiopods *Introduction to Vol. 1
Volume VII, 1853
*Part 1, Tertiary
Volume VI, 1852
*Part 2, No 1, Cretaceous
Volume VI, 1852
*Part 2, No 2, Cretaceous, with Appendix and Index to Vol. 1
Volume VIII, 1854
*Part 3, No 1, Oolitic and Liassic
Volume IV, 1850
*Part 3, No 2, Oolitic and Liassic
Volume VI, 1852
Vol. 2. The Permian and Carboniferous Brachiopods *Part 4, Permian
Volume X, 1856
*Part 5, No 1, Carboniferous
Volume X, 1856
*Part 5, No 2, Carboniferous
Volume XI, 1857
*Part 5, No 3, Carboniferous
Volume XII, 1858
*Part 5, No 4, Carboniferous
Volume XIII, 1859
*Part 5, No 5, Carboniferous
Volume XIV, 1860
Vol. 3. The Devonian and Silurian Brachiopods *Part 6, No 1, Devonian
Volume XVI, 1862
*Part 6, No 2, Devonian
Volume XVII, 1863
*Part 7, No 1, Silurian
Volume XIX, 1865
*Part 7, No 2, Silurian
Volume XX, 1866
*Part 7, No 3, Silurian
Volume XXII, 1868
*Part 7, No 4, Silurian
Volume XXIV, 1870
Vol. 4. Supplements Tertiary to Carboniferous *Part 1 (Tertiary and Cretaceous)
Volume XXVII, 1873
*Part 2, No 1 (Jurassic and Triassic)
Volume XXX, 1876
*Part 2, No 2 (Jurassic and Triassic)
Volume XXXII, 1878
*Part 3 (Permian and Carboniferous)
Volume XXXIV, 1880
*Part 4 (Devonian and Silurian, from Budleigh Salterton pebble beds)
Volume XXXV, 1881
*Part 5 (Conclusion)
Volume XXXVI, 1882
Vol. 5. Supplements, Devonian and Silurian *Part 1 (Devonian and Silurian)
Volume XXXVI, 1882
*Part 2 (Silurian)
Volume XXXVII, 1883
*Part 3 (Conclusion)
Volume XXXVIII, 1884
Vol. 6. Bibliography
Volume XXXIX 1885

Other publications

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Notes

References

Attribution: * * This work in turn cites: * Biography with portrait and list of papers in {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Thomas 1817 births 1885 deaths Scottish geologists Scottish palaeontologists Scientists from Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Medal winners Wollaston Medal winners Alumni of the University of Edinburgh International members of the American Philosophical Society