John Charles Melliss

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Book cover (1875)

John Charles Melliss (* 1835 on St. Helena , † 1910 Hampstead (London) ) was a British naturalist and civil engineer .

Live and act

John Charles Mellis was born on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, the son of an officer of the St. Helena artillery . After training as an engineer, he served as an officer with the pioneers of the " Royal Engineers " and was employed by the island's government from 1860 to 1871. He then went to London and founded the company "JC Melliss and Company" there in 1878, which is still active today as "Melliss LLP" in civil engineering .

In 1875 he and his wife, a biologist, published the book St. Helena: A Physical, Historical and Topographical Description of the Island, including the Geology, Fauna, Flora and Meteorology , which to this day is considered one of the most comprehensive works on the natural history of the Island applies.

Honors

The English botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker named a plant genus endemic to St. Helena " Mellissia " in his honor .

In 1975 a series of stamps was published to mark the centenary of his book.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Volume 183, Issue 1911, Part 1, p. 333, doi: 10.1680 / imotp.1911.17820 .
personal data
SURNAME Melliss, John Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British engineer and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Helena
DATE OF DEATH 1911