Hewett Watson

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Hewett Cottrell Watson (around 1830)

Hewett Cottrell Watson (born April 9, 1804 in Firbeck , England , † July 27, 1881 in Thames Ditton , England) was a botanist , doctor and phrenologist ; his botanical author abbreviation is " HCWatson ".

Live and act

Hewett Watson was the first-born son from his mother, Harriet, daughter of Richard Powell of Heaton Norris (near Stockport , England) and his father Holland Watson, magistrate and mayor of Congleton in the county of Cheshire , in which they move 1810th He had seven older sisters and two younger brothers. In Congleton he attended high school for the first time, where he had the reputation of a fool. He then attended school in Alderley, Cheshire, where he met its principal Edward Stanley, who later became Bishop of Norwich . This encouraged him to botany and supported him. While at Alderley he was a classmate of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley , the son of the principal who later became a Dean of Westminster. As a teenager he suffered such a severe knee injury while playing cricket that he was unable to join the army. In addition, his mother, who had drawn his attention to botany when he was fifteen, died and from then on he had to live with his conservative father, with whom he had a terrible relationship. After school, in 1821, he began working for a Liverpool lawyer. However, he was not interested in the law, but rather in phrenology. So he decided to study medicine and natural history at the University of Edinburgh (1828-1832). As a student, he became Senior President of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh in 1831-2, but he had to drop out without a degree because of his health. In addition to phrenology, he devoted himself to ornithology , entomology and botany. During this time he inherited an estate in Derbyshire from a relative of his mother's . In Edinburgh he made friends with the botanist Robert Graham , who furthered his interest in biogeography , and with the phrenologist George Combe . In 1829 he joined the Edinburgh Phrenological Society. In 1831 he won a botanical competition for an essay on the geographical distribution of plants. After spending some months with a friend near 1833 Barnstaple lived, he bought a small house in Thames Ditton in the county of Surrey , in which he spent the rest of his life. In 1842, at his own expense, he made a trip to the four largest Azores islands with the Styx, which was under the command of Captain Vidal, from which he brought some new plants. He stayed in the Azores for three months and described native plants there such as the Azores bellflower .

In 1843 he was accepted into the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . His academic nickname was Ramond .

Although he already had a good reputation as a geographic botanist, he applied unsuccessfully for a chair at the newly founded Queen's Collage in Dublin. He died in his home on July 27, 1881.

Evolutionist

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Initiated by his friend Robert Chambers , he collected evidence of the transmutation of species and also defended it. He corresponded with Charles Darwin, who lived in Downe , about 20 km from Thames Ditton. Watson helped Darwin with his unique understanding of the distribution of British plant species. In 1856 he was personally invited by Darwin and Joseph Hooker to discuss the theory of evolution , but because he was too busy and did not like to travel, he canceled. Still, Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species generously recognized Watson as an extremely important source of scientific information. Watson was one of the first to congratulate Charles Darwin on his work on November 21, 1859.

Honors

The magazine Watsonia was named after him , 1949 ff. Also the plant genus Hewittia Wight & Arn. from the family of wind plants (Convolvulaceae) is named after him.

Works

As editor:

  • Statistics of Phrenology; being a Sketch of the Progress and Present State of that Science in the British Islands
  • An Examination of Mr. Scott's attack upon Mr. George Combe
  • The journal: The Phrenological Journal (1837-1840)
  • The catalog: The London Catalog of British Plants from (1844 to 1874)
  • The botanical section by Frederick Ducane Godman: Natural History of the Azores (1870)
  • Heavily involved in: London Catalog of British Plants

Own works:

  • Cybele Britannica (1847)
Sequels:
  • 1849
  • 1852
  • 1859
Supplement (1860)
  • Public Opinion, or Safe Revolution through Self-representation (1848)
  • Compendium of the Cybele Britannica (1870)
  • Addendum (1872)
  • Topographical Botany (1873-4), 2nd edition 1883

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JDF Neigebaur : History of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 271
  2. ↑ a b c Walter Erhardt among others: The great pikeperch. Encyclopedia of Plant Names . Volume 2, page 2078. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-8001-5406-7
  3. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Watson, Hewett
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Watson, Hewett Cottrell (full name); HCWatson (botanical author abbreviation)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English botanist and physician
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH Firbeck , England
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1881
Place of death Thames Ditton , England