User:Kusma/sandbox/3

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Anna Blackburne (1726 – 30 December 1793) was an English naturalist and collector. She corresponded with several notable botanists of her age, including Linneaus, JRF, Pennant, ... Several species are named in her honour.

Family background and early life[edit]

Blackburne was born in 1726 at Orford Hall, Warrington as the fifth of nine children of John Blackburne (1693–1786) and Katharine Ashton or Assheton (1701–1740),[1][2][a] the daughter of William Assheton, Rector of Prestwich.[3][b] She was baptised as "Anne" on 3 January 1726, but is usually known as "Anna".[7][8] Her family were landowners who had lived at Orford Hall since 1638.[9] They also owned merchant ships and were also involved in foreign trade with Russia and with salt production in Cheshire and at Salthouse Dock in Liverpool.[10] John Blackburne was interested in botany and had a large collection of plants in his garden; in his coal-fired hothouses, he grew exotic plants including pineapples and cotton that was turned into a muslin dress for his daughter.[11][12] Little is known about her formal education,[2] but Anna may have used the natural history books in her father's library to study botany during her childhood.[13] In the years following her mother's death, her surviving siblings left Orford Hall; eventually, only Anna and her father remained.[2] Her brother John was a businessman who served as mayor of Liverpool in 1760-61 and was involved in the slave trade before 1758;[14] her brother Ashton lived in New York,[11] from where he sent bird specimens to his sister.[15] Anna Blackburne was the mistress of the manor and referred to herself as "Mrs. Blackburne" although she never married; the title "Mrs." was customarily used also by unmarried ladies of the 18th century.[2]

Association with other naturalists[edit]

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, by John Francis Rigaud, London c. 1780

Blackburne was keenly interested in natural history[8] and was in contact with some of the most famous naturalists of her era.[16] She learned Latin and studied the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus.[17] Occasionally, Blackburne visited London and Oxford;[18] on one such visit to the botanical garden at Oxford, she debated with the gardeners and surprised the bystanders with the extent of her botanical knowledge.[19] She collected various natural history specimens including insects, shells, minerals and birds.[8] In the beginning, she obtained most of her specimens from her widely travelled family members.[20] At Orford Hall, she and her father received visits by other naturalists.[8]

Johann Reinhold Forster[edit]

One of the naturalists visiting the Blackburnes was Johann Reinhold Forster, who in 1767 had been appointed as tutor in modern languages and natural history at Warrington Academy as replacement of Joseph Priestley.[21] Forster's scientific lectures at Warrington covered biology, entomology and mineralogy.[22] In 1768, Forster dined at Orford Hall every Saturday, helped Blackburne with the arrangement of her insect collection and presented his lectures on entomology to her.[22][23] Blackburne allowed Forster to use the family's sizeable library,[24] and encouraged Forster to publish his work.[25][22] For his friend Thomas Pennant, another naturalist, Forster enquired about the possibility to obtain duplicates of shells, but without success.[22] Until he moved to London in 1770, Forster and Blackburne had a mutually beneficial relationship: she received education, and he benefitted from their social relationship and her library and expected her to order books for him.[26][24]

Blackburnia (Zanthoxylum pinnatum), engraving of botanical drawings by Georg Forster, from Characteres generum plantarum

Forster later took part in the second voyage of James Cook as the expedition's naturalist.[27][28] After his return, he and his son Georg published some of the botanical results of the voyage in the book Characteres generum plantarum.[29] It contained botanical descriptions written by Anders Sparrman, a disciple of Linnaeus whom Forster had engaged at Cape Town, and engravings of drawings by Georg.[30] The book was printed in both quarto and folio formats; the folios, of which sixteen copies have been traced, were not publicly sold, but given as presents to royalty as well as friends and supporters of the Forsters.[31] Anna Blackburne received one such folio; its present whereabouts are unknown.[32] Forster dedicated one genus to Blackburne and her father, Blackburnia, including Blackburnia pinnata, now called Zanthoxylum pinnatum.[33] In the dedication, Forster mentioned John's garden and Anna's collections, thanking both for allowing him to use their "most informative museum".[8]

Linneaus[edit]

Geotrupes blackburnii, named after Blackburne by Johan Fabricius

On 29 June 1771, Blackburne wrote to the Swedish botanist and zoologist Linnaeus, offering to send him "a few Birds & insects" collected by her brother Ashton near New York.[34] Linnaeus thanked her in his reply, written in Latin, and promised to name a new species after her if she gave him an unknown specimen.[35] In response, Blackburne sent "a small box containing a few Birds and insects".[19] These three letters are all that is known of their correspondence, and claims that Blackburne was a "friend and constant correspondent of Linnaeus" or indeed named a plant after her, as reported in her obituary,[6] are inaccurate.[36] Linnaeus's student Johan Christian Fabricius visited Orford Hall, where he examined her collection of insects, and found a new species of beetle. He called it Scarabaeus blackburnii; it is now called Geotrupes blackburnii.[18]

Thomas Pennant[edit]

Blackburnian warbler, 1902 illustration

The naturalist Thomas Pennant, who had been aware of Blackburne and her collections through correspondence with Forster since at least 1768, visited Orford Hall in May 1772.[15] He later described the visit in his 1774 book, A Tour in Scotland, and Voyage to the Hebrides, where he praised John Blackburne's botanical collections and noted about Anna, "Mrs. Blackburne his daughter extends her researches still farther, and adds to her empire another kingdom; not content with the botanic, she causes North America to be explored for its animals, and has formed a museum from the other side of the Atlantic, as pleasing as it is instructive."[37][15] Pennant studied the collection of birds that Blackburne's brother Ashton had sent to her from America, which helped him to include more than a hundred species of birds from New York alone in his book Arctic Zoology.[15][38] The book's preface contained extensive thanks to the Blackburnes for their contribution: "To the rich museum of American Birds, preserved by Mrs. Anna Blackburn, of Orford, near Warrington, I am indebted for the opportunity of describing almost every one known in the provinces of Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. They were sent over to that lady by her brother the late Mr. Ashton Blackburn; who added to the skill and zeal of a sportsman, the most pertinent remarks on the specimens he collected for his worthy and philosophical sister."[15][39] Pennant named the Blackburnian warbler in honour of Blackburne.[40] In 1975, V. P. Wystrach determined that sixteen or seventeen of the bird species accepted by the American Ornithologists' Union were originally described by Pennant from skins sent by Ashton Blackburne to Anna.[41] Other than birds, Pennant acknowledged the Blackburne museum as the source for the descriptions in Arctic Zoology of a mammal, a salamander, 3 species of fish, and 52 insects.[22] However, Pennant did not acknowledge Blackburne's contributions in his autobiography.[22]

Other naturalists[edit]

The German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, who lived in St. Petersburg and had collected natural history specimens during an expedition to Siberia, was in correspondence with Pennant.[33] Pennant likely introduced him to Blackburne, and the two started exchanging specimens in 1778.[42] They exchanged mostly plants, preserved birds, and minerals, but also other animals, including a young musk deer sent by Pallas in 1779.[42] Some of the exchange was mediated by the publisher Benjamin White.[18][43] At some point between 1771 and 1779, Blackburne also became acquainted with Joseph Banks, who also helped as an intermediate between her and Pallas, and with Daniel Solander.[43][44] The naturalist Emanuel Mendes da Costa was also in contact with Blackburne and offered to catalogue her collection of minerals. Possibly because of his previous misappropriation of Royal Society funds, she did not employ him although she was interested.[43]

Museum, death, and legacy[edit]

Eurasian wren, raspberry, wood lice and pupa from the Natural History Cabinet of Anna Blackburne, by James Bolton

Anne Blackburne had an extensive collection of natural history specimens.[45][11] She had a herbarium, a collection of 470 birds and one bat preserved by taxidermy, specimens of insects, corals and shells, as well as fossils, ores, and minerals.[6][20] She also owned drawings of such specimens: the illustrator James Bolton made several watercolours and gouaches from objects in her cabinet.[46] After her father's death, she moved in 1787 from Orford Hall to nearby Fairfield Hall, which was built for her with a room designed to house her collections.[47] The room was 15 yards (14 m) long and as wide as the house.[20][2] She also had plans for a botanical garden, but was prevented from carrying these out by health issues.[2] She died on 30 December 1793 and was buried in the churchyard of St Oswald's Church, Winwick.[2] Her collection was inherited by her nephew John Blackburne, who moved at least selected parts the collection to his seat at Hale Hall.[48][49]

A crater on Venus has been named "Blackburne" in her honour since 1994.[50] The Blackburne crater is situated at 11.0°N, 183.9°E and has a diameter of 30.1 km.[51]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Wystrach states that John Blackburne died in 1787, but the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives 20 December 1786 as date of death.[2][1]
  2. ^ Several sources, for example Kendrick 1854,[4] incorrectly state that Blackburne was born in 1740, but her tombstone is inscribed "Died Dec. 30, 1793, aged 67".[5] Her obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine stated she was "advanced in age" when she died in 1793.[6]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b Edmondson 2004.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Wystrach 1977, p. 150.
  3. ^ Booker 1852, p. 115.
  4. ^ Kendrick 1854, p. 4.
  5. ^ Wystrach 1977, p. 164.
  6. ^ a b c Gentleman's Magazine 1794, p. 180.
  7. ^ Norman 1961, p. 65.
  8. ^ a b c d e Edmondson & Rowley 1998, p. 16.
  9. ^ Wystrach 1977, pp. 148–150.
  10. ^ Edmondson & Rowley 1998, p. 14.
  11. ^ a b c Shteir 2008.
  12. ^ Blake 2005, p. 37.
  13. ^ Shteir 1996, p. 53.
  14. ^ Bennett 2014, p. 272.
  15. ^ a b c d e Wystrach 1977, p. 156.
  16. ^ Rosove 2015, p. 617.
  17. ^ Shteir 1996, p. 54.
  18. ^ a b c Wystrach 1977, p. 155.
  19. ^ a b Wystrach 1977, p. 154.
  20. ^ a b c Easterby-Smith 2017, p. 87.
  21. ^ Hoare 1976, pp. 37, 51.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Wystrach 1977, p. 157.
  23. ^ Gordon 1975, pp. 81–82.
  24. ^ a b Easterby-Smith 2017, p. 88.
  25. ^ Gordon 1975, p. 82.
  26. ^ Wystrach 1977, pp. 157–158.
  27. ^ Williams 2013, pp. 97–98.
  28. ^ Rosove 2015, p. 611.
  29. ^ Williams 2013, p. 118.
  30. ^ Williams 2013, pp. 99, 118.
  31. ^ Rosove 2015, pp. 615, 620–621.
  32. ^ Rosove 2015, pp. 617–618.
  33. ^ a b Wystrach 1977, p. 158.
  34. ^ Wystrach 1977, pp. 151–153.
  35. ^ Wystrach 1977, pp. 153–155.
  36. ^ Wystrach 1977, p. 151.
  37. ^ Pennant 1774, p. 12.
  38. ^ McAtee 1963, p. 101.
  39. ^ Pennant 1784, Advertisement.
  40. ^ Wystrach 1974, p. 89.
  41. ^ Wystrach 1975, p. 609.
  42. ^ a b Wystrach 1977, p. 159.
  43. ^ a b c Easterby-Smith 2017, p. 89.
  44. ^ Wystrach 1977, p. 160.
  45. ^ Wystrach 1977, pp. 161–162.
  46. ^ YCBA.
  47. ^ Haines 2001, p. 35.
  48. ^ Wystrach 1977, p. 162.
  49. ^ Rylands 1881, pp. 84–85.
  50. ^ IAU 2006.
  51. ^ Bondarenko & Head 2009, p. 2.

Sources[edit]

add?[edit]


  • talk about fate of her collection after death
  • use yale book
  • use pallas book
  • another pass through wystrach
  • peer review?
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