Who did Richard Bowdler Sharpe work for from 1863 to 1865?
Richard Bowdler Sharpe Richard Bowdler Sharpe ( 22 November 1847 – 25 December 1909 ) was an English zoologist and ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history . In the course of his career he published several monographs on bird groups and produced a multi-volume catalogue of the specimens in the collection of the museum . He described many new species of bird and also has had species named in his honour by other ornithologists including Sharpes longclaw ( Macronyx sharpei ) and Sharpes starling ( Poeoptera sharpii ) . Biography . Richard was born in London , the first son of Thomas Bowdler Sharpe . His grandfather , Reverend Lancelot Sharpe was Rector of All Hallows Staining . His father was a publisher on Skinner Street and was best known for being the publisher of Sharpes London Magazine , an illustrated periodical ( weekly but monthly from 1847 ) . His care from the age of six was under an aunt , Magdalen Wallace , widow of the headmaster at Grammar School in Sevenoaks and went to school in Brighton . At nine he studied at The Kings School , Peterborough receiving a Kings Scholarship . He then moved to Loughborough Grammar School . He returned to London at the age of sixteen and worked as a clerk with W . H . Smith & Sons . He already took an interest in ornithology and was interested in writing a monograph on the kingfishers . After two years , in 1865 , he joined the company of the bookseller Bernard Quaritch and had an opportunity to examine ornithological books and began to work in earnest on his monograph , purchasing specimens of kingfishers from a meagre income . At nineteen , in 1867 , he became a librarian at the Zoological Society of London on the recommendation of Osbert Salvin and Philip Sclater and he completed his Monograph of the Kingfishers ( 1868–71 ) during this period . The book was produced in parts with 121 illustrations . He then began to collaborate with Henry Dresser on A History of the Birds of Europe but this had to be abandoned because of his new appointment . On the death of George Robert Gray in 1872 he joined the British Museum as a Senior Assistant in the Department of Zoology , taking charge of the bird collection . On 3 December 1867 he married Emily Eliza , daughter of J . W . Burrows of Cookham . He named a species of kingfisher ( Tanysiptera emiliae ) after his wife in 1871 . They had ten daughters and many of them contributed to his books ( and of other authors too ) by hand colouring the lithograph plates . One daughter , Emily Mary , worked in the entomology department of the Natural History Museum between 1905 and 1925 . He became Assistant Keeper in 1895 , a position he held until his death from pneumonia in 1909 . He died at his home in Chiswick . In 1911 a £100 civil pension was granted to his wife and daughters Emily Mary , Ada Lavinia and Eva Augusta . Contributions to ornithology . As curator of the bird collections , Sharpes main work was in classifying and cataloguing the collections . He also played a major role in acquiring private collections by persuading wealthy collectors and travellers to contribute to the museum . In 1872 the museum had 35,000 bird specimens ; the collection had grown to half a million specimens by the time of his death . These included the bequests of Allan Octavian Hume , Osbert Salvin and Frederick DuCane Godman , the industrialist and amateur ornithologist Henry Seebohm , Colonel John Biddulph , C . B . Rickett , F . W . Styan , Alfred Russel Wallace , George Ernest Shelley , Philip Sclater and the bird illustrator John Gould . Sharpe founded the British Ornithologists Club in 1892 and edited its bulletin . He wrote thirteen and a half of the 27 volumes of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum ( 1874–1898 ) . His handsome Birds of Paradise , published in two large volumes ( over 21 inches x 14 inches ) in 1891 and 1898 , presented these colourful birds to the world : as Sharpe wrote in his preface , a great number of the species are here figured for the first time . Sharpe was nominated at the International Ornithological Congress at Paris in 1900 to preside over the London Congress in 1905 . Personality . Sharpe was noted as a genial and humorous person . Richard Meinertzhagen and his brother were introduced to the bird collections by him . He was fond of children , having ten daughters himself . None of them were given the name Bowdler at birth , but all adopted it later in life . The eldest daughter , Emily Mary Bowdler Sharpe , was a biologist and author in her own right , and also worked at the British Museum . The other nine daughters ( Ada Lavinia , Eva Augusta , Lilian Bertha , Dora Louise , Lena Violet , Daisy Madeline , Sylvia Rosamund , Hilda Marion , and Aimee Marjorie ) all worked as colourists on his works . Sharpe was also known for his practical jokes and pranks . When Eugene Oates was working on the Fauna of British India , he found the notes lying on a table and filled up a stray statement on the call of a white wagtail ( ssp . lugens ) which went into print ( The note of this species is a prolonged Pooh. ) . On one occasion , Sharpe ascended the Eiffel tower with friends but became hysterical on reaching the top , with Ernst Hartert and several others having to restrain him and prevent him from jumping off . A regular at the Savage and Whitefriars Club , he and his wife threw a party in February 1888 with 120 guests and entertainment that included humorous sketches , songs , recitals and music . Honours . Sharpe was awarded an honorary LL.D . by the University of Aberdeen . He was fellow of the Linnean Society and the Zoological Society of London . A gold medal was awarded to him in 1891 by the Emperor of Austria . As of 2019 , in the online list of world birds maintained by Frank Gill and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee , Sharpe is credited with formally describing and coining the Latin names of 233 species of bird as well as 201 subspecies . He is also credited with introducing 45 genera . Many species and subspecies of birds have been named after him including : - Sharpes drongo ( Dicrurus sharpei ) - Sharpes apalis ( Apalis sharpii ) - Sharpes starling ( Poeoptera sharpii ) - Sharpes akalat ( Sheppardia sharpei ) - Sharpes longclaw ( Macronyx sharpei ) A genus Sharpia was erected but is now considered to be synonymous with Ploceus . Publications . - ( Vol . 1 , Vol . 2 ) - ( Vol . 1 , Vol . 2 ) - ( Vol . 1 , Vol . 2 , Vol . 3 , Vol . 4 ) - ( Vol . 1 , Vol . 2 , Vol . 3 , Vol . 4 , Vol . 5 ) British Museum catalogues . - Catalogue of the Accipitres , or diurnal birds of prey , in the collection of the British Museum . ( 1874 ) . - Catalogue of the Striges , or nocturnal birds of prey , in the collection of the British Museum . ( 1875 ) . - Catalogue of the Passeriformes , or perching birds , in the collection of the British Museum . Coliomorphae.. . ( 1877 ) . - Catalogue of the Passeriformes , or perching birds , in the collection of the British Museum . Cichlomorphae , pt.I.. . ( 1879 ) . - Catalogue of the Passeriformes , or perching birds , in the collection of the British Museum . Cichlomorphae , pt.III- [ IV ] .. . ( 1881–83 ) . - Catalogue of the Passeriformes , or perching birds , in the collection of the British Museum . Fringilliformes , pt.I.. . ( 1885 ) . - Catalogue of the Passeriformes , or perching birds , in the collection of the British Museum . Fringilliformes , pt.III.. . ( 1888 ) . - Catalogue of the Passeriformes , or perching birds , in the collection of the British Museum . Sturniformes.. . ( 1890 ) . - Catalogue of the Picariae in the collection of the British Museum . Coraciae.. . ( 1892 ) . - Catalogue of the Fulicariae.. . and Alectorides.. . in the collection of the British Museum . ( 1894 ) . - Catalogue of the Limicolae in the collection of the British Museum . ( 1896 ) . - Catalogue of the Plataleae , Herodiones , Steganopodes , Pygopodes , Alcae , and Impennes in the collection of the British Museum . ( 1898 ) . External links . - Biography at Genealogy and History of the Bowdler Family