Thomas Chaloner (naturalist)

Thomas Chaloner was a 16th century English naturalist.

He came from a family of statesmen. His father John Chaloner was Secretary of State for Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I. His cousin was the court official (governor of the court of Prince Henry, the son of James I) Thomas Chaloner (1561-1615), with whom he is often confused.

As a naturalist, he studied the occurrence of copper and alum , after which he prospected in Ireland. In 1584 he published A Short Discourse of the most rare Vertue of Nitre in London , a book ahead of its time. He took certain plants as clues to the presence of alum in the soil, including on the property of his cousin Thomas Chaloner in Yorkshire (in what is now the Redcar and Cleveland area ). His cousin then went to work on the extraction of the deposits.

Individual evidence

↑ For example, in the old Dictionary of National Biography . The difference is emphasized by the article Chaloner, Sir Thomas (? 1564-1615), of Richmond Palace, Surr., Steeple Claydon, Bucks. and Clerkenwell, Mdx., in: Andrew Thrush, John P. Ferris (Eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, Cambridge University Press 2010

personal data
SURNAME	Chaloner, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH	16th Century
DATE OF DEATH	16th century or 17th century

[1] For example, in the old Dictionary of National Biography . The difference is emphasized by the article Chaloner, Sir Thomas (? 1564-1615), of Richmond Palace, Surr., Steeple Claydon, Bucks. and Clerkenwell, Mdx., in: Andrew Thrush, John P. Ferris (Eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, Cambridge University Press 2010