The Making of Institutional Zoology in London 1822–1836: Part I

Abbreviations used in citing sources of manuscript material: ZC LS Zoological Club manuscripts, Linnean Society of London Library WSC LS Swainson William correspondence, Linnean Society of London Library ZS Minute Books and records housed in the library of the Zoological Society of London BL British Library.

MacLeod Roy M. , “Whigs and savants: Reflections on the reform movement in the Royal Society, 1830–48”, in Inkster I. and Morrell J. (eds), Metropolis and province: Science in British culture, 1780–1850 (London, 1983), 55–90, pp. 77–78.

For modern analyses: Secord James A. , Controversy in Victorian geology: The Cambrian-Silurian debate (forthcoming), ch. 1; Weindling Paul J. , “Geological controversy and its historiography: The prehistory of the Geological Society of London”, in Jordanova L. J. and Porter R. S. (eds), Images of the earth: Essays in the history of the environmental sciences (Chalfont St Giles, 1979), 248–71; Laudan Rachel , “Ideas and organizations in British geology: A case study in institutional history”, Isis, lxviii (1977), 527–38; Porter Roy , The making of geology: Earth science in Britain 1660–1815 (Cambridge, 1977); Morrell J. B. , “London institutions and Lyell's career: 1820–1841”, The British journal for the history of science, ix (1976), 132–46; Rudwick M. J. S. , “The foundation of the Geological Society of London: Its scheme for co-operative research and its struggle for independence”, The British journal for the history of science, i (1963), 325–55.

Bastin J. , “The first prospectus of the Zoological Society of London: New light on the Society's origins”, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, v (1970), 369–88. This and Bastin's follow-up paper are extremely important: Bastin J. , “A further note on the origins of the Zoological Society of London”, ibid., vi (1973), 236–41. Herbert Sandra , “The place of man in the development of Darwin's theory of transmutation, Part II”, Journal of the history of biology, x (1977), 155–227, pp. 170–6. On Darwin in London society: Rudwick Martin J. S. , “Charles Darwin in London: The integration of public and private science”, Isis, lxxiii (1982), 186–206. For a non-institutional approach: Gillespie Neal C. , “Preparing for Darwin: Conchology and natural theology in Anglo-American natural history”, Studies in the history of biology, vii (1984), 93–145.

Allen David E. , The naturalist in Britain: A social history (London, 1976); Gunther A. E. , The founders of science at the British Museum 1753–1900 (Halesworth, 1980); idem, A century of zoology at the British Museum through the lives of two keepers 1815–1914 (London, 1975); Stearn William T. , The Natural History Museum at South Kensington: A history of the British Museum (Natural History) 1753–1980 (London, 1981). Farber Paul L. , The emergence of ornithology as a scientific discipline: 1760–1850 (Dordrecht, 1982) takes an international perspective. For a review of historical approaches to natural history: Secord James A. , “Natural history in depth”. Social studies of science, xv (1985), 181–200.

Barnes Barry , T. S. Kuhn and social science (London, 1982), xi.

Miller David P. , “Between hostile camps: Sir Humphry Davy's Presidency of the Royal Society of London, 1820–1827”, The British journal for the history of science, xvi (1983), 1–47, p. 2.

On the innovations in printing and illustrating see Allen , op. cit. (ref. 4), ch. 5; and especially Sheets-Pyenson Susan , “War and peace in natural history publishing: The Naturalist's Library, 1833–1843”, Isis, lxxii (1981), 50–72, pp. 61–63 for the new technology. On the “speedy publication” of the Zoological journal: Vigors N. A. , “An address delivered to the sixth and last anniversary meeting of the Zoological Club of the Linnean Society of London on the 29th of November, 1829”, Magazine of natural history, iii (1830), 201–26, p. 220, and my ref. 28 below. A full listing of compilation works dealing with natural history is to be found in Bicheno J. E. , An address delivered at the anniversary of the Zoological Club…1826 (London, 1826), 21.

“The radical university”, Medical gazette, xix (1836–37), 463–7.

As the antagonistic radical Wakley Thomas slated them: “Mr. Green's sky-rocket lecture”, Lancet, i (1832–33), 151–5.

Rennie J. to Smith H. , 29 November 1830, King's College Archives KA/IC/R3. On Rennie's appointment, and the influence his popular books had on the committee's decision: Rennie J. to Swainson W. , 17 May [ny], WSC LS.

Managers' Minutes 1810–32, vi, ff. 428, 437; vii, ff. 24, 62, 83, 85, 162, 164, 176, 209: Royal Institution Archives. Harwood took a residence out of town and resigned his post in 1830 (vii, f. 328). One of the best full-length institutional histories is Berman M. , Social change and scientific organization: The Royal Institution, 1799–1844 (London, 1978). For the wealth of lectures available, see Hays J. N. , “The London lecturing empire, 1800–50”, in Inkster and Morrell (eds), op. cit. (ref. 1), 91–119.

[ Broderip W. ], “The Zoological Gardens — Regent's Park”, Quarterly review, lvi (1836), 309–32, p. 331. On the alert conservativism of the age, of which Broderip was a fine example, see Neve Michael , “Science in a commercial city: Bristol 1820–60”, in Inkster and Morrell (eds), op. cit. (ref. 1), 179–204.

Inkster Ian , “Introduction: Aspects of the history of science and science culture in Britain, 1780–1850 and beyond”, in Inkster and Morrell (eds), op. cit. (ref. 1), 11–54, p. 23.

MacLeod , op. cit. (ref. 1), 56–57.

Minutes of Committee of Science and Correspondence (July 1830-Dec. 1832), ZS. Notice, however, that of the physicians and surgeons invited to join the Committee ( Bell C. Bostock J. Clift W. Grant R. E. Green J. H. Guthrie J. G. Home E. Owen R. Roget P. M. Roots Henry Sigmond George South J. F. Travers B. Waring Richard , and Youatt W. ) few attended meetings. South, Green, Roots, Roget, and Home apparently never attended any at all. Guthrie, Travers, and Sigmond attended only the first on 9 November 1830. Waring and Bell visited on odd occasions, Clift and Youatt more frequently. The regulars were Grant and Owen, who joined the predominately career zoologists as ‘managers’ of the Committee on 23 November 1830 — see ref. 183 below.

Morrell , op. cit. (ref. 2), 139.

Despite pressure in the 1820s and 1830s from reformers and declinists (e.g. Bicheno Brookes Grant , and Swainson ) for state support, this kind of ‘commodity’ approach was not successful until the Huxley/Tyndall/Lankester camp exploited it in the 1860s-1870s: Desmond Adrian , Archetypes and ancestors: Palaeontology in Victorian London 1850–1875 (London, 1982; Chicago, 1984), ch. 3. Indeed, zoology was listed as one of the “ornamental accomplishments” in the first Statement by the Council of the University of London (London, 1827), 10–11. See also Cardwell D. S. L. , The organization of science in England (London, 1972), 46.

Davy Humphry Sir to Peel Robert Sir , 13 December 1824, BL Add. MS 40371, f. 96. The same sentiment had been expressed by Lawrence William , An introduction to comparative anatomy and physiology; being the two introductory lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, on the 21st and 25 of March, 1816 (London, 1816), 86–87.

Vigors N. A. to Swainson W. , November 1824, WSC LS.

Cf. Allen , op. cit. (ref. 4), 103–4, with Mitchell P. Chalmers , Centenary history of the Zoological Society of London (London, 1929), 5–6. On the Club see Gage A. T. , A history of the Linnean Society of London (London, 1938), 29–31, 37–38.

Kirby reproduced Hope's letter in Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 5 October 1822, ZC LS: F.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 30 July 1822, ZC LS: F.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 5 October 1822, ZC LS: F. MacLeay W. S. was elected FLS in 1821, Vigors in 1819.

Club minutes suggest that these, with Milne George and Hatchett J. , comprised the initial core group of activists. The full list of (18) original members is: Vigors Kirby Stephens J. F. Haworth A. Hatchett J. Hatchett J.A. Jnr , and MacLeay W. S. Milne G. Lovaine Lord Percy Capt. Sabine Joseph Horsfield Bell T. Sowerby G. B. Curtiss John Donovan Edward , and Henslow J. S. Visitors were Bennett E. T. and Gray J. E. ZC LS: H. Bye-Laws, correspondence, lists, extracts of minutes, &c., 22 July 1823.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 30 July 1822, ZC LS: F.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 5 October 1822, ZC LS: F.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 14 October 1822, ZC LS: F.

Vigors N. A. to Kirby W. , 1 October 1822, in Freeman J. , Life of the Rev. William Kirby. M.A. (London, 1852), 372–4.

ibid. Also Kirby to MacLeay W. S. , 5 October 1822, ZC LS: F.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 14 October 1822; and 4 November 1822 on Alexander MacLeay's foreboding, ZC LS: F.

ZC LS: H. Bye-Laws &c.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 5 December 1822, ZC LS: F. On his absenteeism: Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 14 October 1822, ZC LS: F; Kirby W. to Bennett E. T. , 4 August 1823, ZC LS: G. Miscellaneous Correspondence.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 5 December 1822, also 10 December 1822, and 27 March 1823. On the lack of necessity for this precaution: 12 December 1822, ZC LS: F.

Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 5 December 1822, ZC LS: F. The bye-law on submission of papers to the parent Society was Reg. 7(1): ZC LS: H. Bye-laws. On the members' failure to submit: Kirby W. to MacLeay W. S. , 27 March 1823, ZC LS: F.

Minutes for 10 June 1823, ZC LS: H.

MacLeay A. to Vigors N. A. , 19 November 1824; see also extract of Council Minutes of the Linnean Society, 16 November 1824, and MacLeay A. to Vigors N. A. , 17 November 1824: ZC LS: H.

Committee Minutes, 20 October 1824, 11 January 1825, ZC LS: B.

Haworth A. H. to Swainson W. , 4 August 1827, WSC LS.

MacLeay W. S. , “A letter to J. E. Bicheno, Esq., F.R.S., in examination of his paper ‘On systems and methods,’ in the Linnean transactions”, Zoological journal, iv (1828–29), 401–15, p. 404. On quinarianism see Winsor Mary P. , Starfish, jellyfish, and the order of life: Issues in nineteenth-century science (New Haven, 1976), 82–86; Ospovat Dov , The development of Darwin's theory: Natural history, natural theology, and natural selection, 1838–1859 (Cambridge, 1981), 101–13; and on quinarian versus dichotomous systems: Di Gregorio Mario A. , “In search of the natural system: Problems of zoological classification in Victorian Britain”, History and philosophy of the life sciences, iv (1982), 225–54, pp. 232–6.

Haworth A. H. to Swainson W. , 30 December 1828 and 24 January 1829, WSC LS. The dichotomous system was well established before John Fleming promoted it in his “Systems and methods in natural history”, Quarterly review, xli (1829), 302–27.

A survey of the journals shows how passionately quinarian views were discussed. E.g. Transactions of the Linnean Society, xiv (1823–25), 46, 395; xv (1826–28), 479; xvi (1833), 1; Zoological journal, iv (1827), 43, 401; Magazine of natural history, ix (1836), 130, 175; iv (1840), 141, 305; Annals and magazine of natural history, vi (1841), 184; vii (1841), 41; ix (1842), 197. Cf. Philosophical magazine, lxii (1823), 192, 255; vi (1829), 199; and MacLeay's W. S. attack on Fleming in “On the dying struggle of the dichotomous system”, ibid., vii (1830), 431–45; viii (1830), 52–53. MacLeay (now in Havana) was heavily criticized for the severity of his article, even Swainson advising him that “the summer flies should not make the lion foam and rage” so much: Swainson W. S. to MacLeay W. S. , 30 July 1830, WSC LS.

Fleming J. , The lithology of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1859), 73, also 45–46, 37. For his opposition see [ Fleming ], op. cit. (ref. 40); and Philosophical magazine, viii (1830), 53–57, 134–40, 200–7. Fleming visited the Club on 28 April 1825: ZC LS: A.

Vigors discussed avian taxonomy through 1824 and 1825, e.g. 11 May 1824, ZC LS: H, publishing his massive “Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds”, Transactions of the Linnean Society, xiv (1825), 395–517. MacLeay discussed insects and tunicates in January, February, and November 1824, ZC Minutes passim. Highly motivated quinarians proved to be inspired workers, which endeared them to colleagues: At this time for example, MacLeay took on the description of Horsfield's specimens: MacLeay W. S. , Annulosa Javanica, or an attempt to illustrate the natural affinities and analogies of the insects collected in Java by Thomas Horsfteld (London, 1825).

27 June 1826, ZC LS: D. General Minutes (see also 13 June 1826). Other quinarians and fellow-travellers at meetings included Colebrooke H. T. (11 March 1823), Gray J. E. (a visitor at the inauguration), and Swainson, present at a couple of meetings (13 April and 9 November 1824).

Swainson W. and Richardson J. , Fauna boreali-Americana; or the zoology of the northern parts of British America: Containing descriptions of objects of natural history collected in the later northern land expeditions under command of Captain Sir John Franklin. R.N. (London, 1831), ii, p. liii.

Lindley J. to Swainson W. , 15 November 1827, WSC LS. Grant was present at the Club on 25 November 1828, ZC LS: Rehbock D. has claimed Lindley as a quinarian convert, but it is clear from this that he was not: Rehbock Philip F. , The philosophical naturalists: Themes in nineteenth-century biology (Madison, 1983), 28.

Rennie J. to Swainson W. , 17 May (n.y.), WSC LS.

E.g. London medical and surgical journal, i (1828), 94.

McClelland J. to Swainson W. , 29 October 1838, WSC LS.

See Vigors's discussion of Bicheno's paper “Observations on the ends proposed in natural history by the use of artificial and natural methods”, 13 June 1826, ZC LS: D.

Haworth A. H. to Swainson W. , 24 January 1829, WSC LS.

Broderip W. to Swainson W. , 9 December 1822, WSC LS.

Children J. G. , Lamarck's genera of shells (1823) – copy housed in the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology Library, Mollusca Section. Gunther A. E. , “John George Children, F.R.S. (1777–1852) of the British Museum: Mineralogist and reluctant Keeper of Zoology”, Bulletin of the British Museum, Historical Series, vi (1978), 75–108, pp. 85–86. Swainson knew Dubois: See McMillan Nora , “William Swainson (1789–1855) and his shell collection”, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, ix (1980), 427–34, p. 427. Dubois was later an assistant in the Museum of the Zoological Society (leaving in November 1832): Minutes of Council, iii, f. 12: ZS. In 1824 he had published Anepitome of Lamarck's arrangement of the Testacea: Being a free translation of that part of his work, De l'histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres (London, 1824).

Swainson W. , A preliminary discourse on the study of natural history (London, 1834), 88.

MacLeay W. S. , Horae entomologicae: Or essays on the annulose animals (London, 1819), i, 332–3 for diagrams of the circularization of Lamarck's series. As MacLeay said, “Lamarck's table of affinities, with scarcely any alteration, becomes precisely the same as mine”. MacLeay rated Lamarck the “first Zoologist France has produced” on p. 328. MacLeay's relationship and debt to Lamarck are mentioned by Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 54), 91; Winsor , op. cit. (ref. 39), 86; Ospovat , op. cit. (ref. 39), 102–3. Quinarianism may have started life during the Regency repression as an anti-Lamarckian doctrine, but this aspect was later lost sight of. And as established élites outside Soho Square criticized its unorthodox taxonomic imagery, so its appeal to disaffected and anti-establishment groups grew. It was already turning up on the phrenological fringes by the late 1820s: op. cit. (ref. 48), and it was eventually co-opted by Chambers Robert , who in Vestiges of the natural history of creation (London, 1844) unconvincingly squeezed it into a developmental context. The appropriation of contentious doctrines for politically expedient purposes is discussed by Bowler Peter J. , “E. W. MacBride's Lamarckian eugenics and its implications for the social construction of scientific knowledge”, Annals of science, xli (1984), 245–60.

Lindley J. , “Some account of the spherical and numerical system of nature of M. Elias Fries”, Philosophical magazine, lxviii (1826), 81–91. Fries's circular Okenian idealism was far removed from MacLeay's static quinarianism.

Bicheno , op. cit. (ref. 7), 25.

Kirby W. , “Introductory address”, Zoological journal, ii (1825), 1–8, p. 2.

Bicheno , op. cit. (ref. 7), 22–25. These were not strictly cries in the wilderness; state intervention did grow steadily in many sectors after the Reform Bill, despite a dominant individualist ethos. This point is made by Finlayson G.B.A.M. , England in the eighteen thirties (London, 1969), 65 et seq.

A sphere where it was beginning to have some application. MacLeay W. S. , for example, looked at the problem of insect attacks on timber, and in the late 1820s was tackling citrufruit pests. Leach W. E. at the British Museum was even said to have been offered ten thousand pounds by a merchant if he could stop Dermestes beetles damaging ships' cargoes. But such commercial application was incidental. Thus the Entomological Society was founded in 1833 as an avocational club rather than for utilitarian ends, even if its gentlemen-specialists did stand forward where Empire and heritage were threatened – advising the National Gallery on ways to control the beetles devouring its works of art, and providing Grenadian sugar planters with expertise to destroy cane parasites. Neave S. A. , The history of the Entomological Society of London, 1833–1933 (London, 1933), 16–18. Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 7), 217–18, mentions MacLeay's investigation of pests.

Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 7), 211. Bastin John and Moore D. T. , “The geological researches of Dr Thomas Horsfield in Indonesia 1801–1819”, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Historical Series, x (1982), 75–115.

Brookes J. , An address delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Zoological Club … 1828 (London, 1828), 26; Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 7), 211. See also Morrell J. B. , “Individualism and the structure of British science in 1830”, Historical studies in the physical sciences, iii (1971), 183–204, p. 190.

Swainson , in op. cit. (ref. 45), xlviii.

Children J. G. , An address delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Zoological Club… 1827 (London, 1827), 11.

Bicheno , op. cit. (ref. 7), 26–30. He read a paper to the Zoological Club entitled “On the importance of general views to the progress of natural history”, 24 February 1824, ZC LS: D. Also Bicheno J. E. , “On systems and methods in natural history”. Transactions of the Linnean Society, xv (1827), 479–97.

Swainson W. to Children J. G. , 4 June 1831, WSC LS.

Children J. G. to Swainson W. , 11 July 1831, WSC LS; Brown Ford K. , Fathers of the Victorians: The Age of Wilberforce (Cambridge, 1961), 26–27, on the evangelicals' hatred of Parisian infidelity.

ZC LS: Minutes D. General , 13 and 27 June 1826. On 25 April 1824 Bicheno talked “On the quinary distribution of nature”.

E.g. “Introduction”, Zoological journal, i (1824), pp. iii–vii; Kirby's view was the strongest on this, op. cit. (ref. 32). See also Herbert , op. cit. (ref. 3), 170–6.

Kirby , op. cit. (ref. 58), 5.

Zoological journal, ii (1825), 428. Reviews in the Zoological journal were mostly written by Bennett.

Zoological journal, ii (1825), 424–5; Kirby W. , On the power wisdom and goodness of God as manifested in the creation of animals and in their history habits and instincts (London, 1835), i, pp. xxiv, xxvii.

Swainson W. , “A defence of 'certain French naturalists'”, Magazine of natural history, iv (1831), 97–108, p. 107.

Vigors N. A. , “A reply to art. 1, no. XVIII. of this magazine”, Magazine of natural history, iv (1831), 319–37.

[ Granville A. B. ], Science without a head: Or, the Royal Society dissected (London, 1830); Morrell Jack and Thackray Arnold , Gentlemen of science: Early years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Oxford, 1981), 36–57.

Swainson W. , Zoological illustrations (London, 1820–21), i, pp. ix, vi–vii. On the sale of his collection: McMillan , op. cit. (ref. 53), 428. For a biography see Gunther C. L. G. , “The unpublished correspondence of William Swainson with contemporary naturalists (1806–1840)”, Proceedings of the Linnean Society, cxii (1900), 14–61.

Broderip W. to Swainson W. , 9 December 1822, WSC LS. On the expectation of a volume every four months: Lardner D. to Swainson W. , 8 May 1837, WSC LS.

Broderip W. to Swainson W. , 17 March [1822], WSC LS. Broderip corrected Swainson's Exotic conchology and Zoological illustrations.

Broderip W. to Swainson W. , “Tuesday night” (n.d. [1822]), WSC LS.

Broderip W. to Swainson W. , 17 March [1822] and “monday night” (n.d. [1822]).

Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 54), 324, 353, 362–5, 387 et seq.

Lardner D. to Swainson W. , 17 September 1835, WSC LS. Longman's account suggests that each of the 14 volumes on natural history paid about £150 (with the exception of the Preliminary discourse, started in September 1833, for which he was paid £200). The existing 48 volumes of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia sold for 6s each: D. Lardner to W. Swainson, 2 November 1833, WSC LS.

Lizars paid him £67 for his second volume Birds of Africa in 1836: Lizars W. to Swainson W. , 23 December 1836, WSC LS. Sheets-Pyenson , op. cit. (ref. 7), 65. On the ensuing difficulties with Lardner and the farming out of sections, see Lardner's letters of 13 April 1836 and 8 May 1837, WSC LS. Hays J. N. discusses the perils of authorship as a career in “The rise and fall of Dionysius Lardner”, Annals of science, xxxviii (1981), 527–42.

Gunther , op. cit. (ref. 53), 84. On the Children-Davy partnership in gunpowder manufacture, see the volume of letters 1808–24, BL Add. MSS 38625. Swainson himself canvassed Davy's support for the Leach post: Sir Davy H. to Swainson W. , 9 April 1822, WSC LS.

Traill T. S. to Swainson W. , 22 April 1822, WSC LS. On the Archbishop of Canterbury's power of patronage see [ Traill ], “British Museum”, Edinburgh review, xxxviii (1823), 379–98.

Traill T. S. to Swainson W. , 6 February 1823, also 4 January 1824 on speculations, even in Traill's own house, as to the author, and n.d. 1824 on suspicions falling on Swainson: WSC LS.

Richardson J. Sir to Swainson W. , 31 July 1831, WSC LS. Swainson and Richardson , op. cit. (ref. 45), p. vi.

Roget P. M. to Babbage C. , 5 and 13 February 1830, BL Add. MS 37185, ff. 36–40, 53. Babbage was summoned to give an account of his actions by the Council: Roget to Babbage, 22 May 1830, BL Add. MS 37185, f. 189. Roget's cordial correspondence terminates at this point.

Minutes of Council, i, f. 31 (29 November 1827), and f. 48 (3 May 1828) for his withdrawal: ZS. The question of his defaulting was “raked up” during the dispute with Vigors: See Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 73), 106; “The final statement of Mr. Swainson in reply to Mr. Vigors”, Magazine of natural history, iv (1831), 481–6, pp. 482–4; Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 74), 333; and Vigors N. A. , “Controversy between W. Swainson, Esq. F.R.S. L.S., &c., and N. A. Vigors, Esq. F.R.S. &c.”, Magazine of natural history, v (1832), Appendix, 191–207, p. 196. Vigors's account differs slightly from the record in the Council minutes and should be treated with caution.

On the Council's refusal to admit him: Minutes of Council, i, f. 85 (17 September 1828): ZS. Vigors, “Controversy”, ibid ., 199. Richardson tried to smuggle him in: Richardson J. to Swainson W. , 22 April 1831, WSC LS. Audubon was “grieved” at the “sparring” that ensued: 28 April 1830, WSC LS. On Swainson's fish collections: Swainson , “Final statement”, ibid ., 483; and his access to the other London museums: Bicheno J. E. to Swainson W. , 14 November 1827, WSC LS; Swainson and Richardson , op. cit. (ref. 45), p. lxi.

Broderip W. to Swainson W. , 10 March 1827, WSC LS.

Swainson , “Final statement”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 486; cf. Vigors , “Controversy”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 205.

Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 73), 106; Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 74), 334–5; Swainson , “Final statement”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 483 on Vigors's in-laws.

Gray J. E. to Swainson W. , 5 August 1830, WSC LS.

Swainson W. to Babbage C. , 10 January 1832, BL Add. MS 37186, f. 210; see reply Babbage to Swainson , 31 January 1832, WSC LS. Swainson first struck a declinist pose in op. cit. (ref. 73), 99, 107; “Final statement”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 484.

Swainson , “Final statement”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 486.

Swainson W. to Babbage C. , 8 April 1834, BL Add. MS 37188, f. 303.

Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 54), 314–16.

Bennett E. T. , “Evidences in proof of certain statements contained in the ‘Gardens and menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated’”, Magazine of natural history, iv (1831), 199–206, p. 200. Vigors criticized Desmarest's rejection of his parrot classification as early as 12 December 1826: ZC LS: D. The subject of his attack was Desmarest A. G. , “Perroquet”, Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles, xxxix (1826), 1–137.

Bennett , “Evidences”, ibid., 200–1.

Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 74), 329–30 – an exhortation repeated time and again, e.g., Vigors N. A. and Horsfield T. , “Observations on some of the mammalia in the museum of the Zoological Society”, Zoological journal, iv (1828–29), 105–13, pp. 105–6.

Vigors and Horsfield , ibid., 106.

MacLeay W. S. , “A reply to some observations of M. Virey in the ‘Bulletin des sciences naturelles, 1825’”, Zoological journal, iv (1828–29), 47–51, p. 48.

Vigors N. A. , “A reply to some observations in the ‘Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles,’ upon the newly characterised groups of the Psittacidae”, Zoological journal, iii (1827–28), 91–123, p. 92.

Vigors , ibid., 93–94, 122–3.

Bennett , op. cit. (ref. 99), 200–1; MacLeay , op. cit. (ref. 103), 47.

26 August 1823, ZC LS: D (declining on the grounds that he had not been invited during the formation of the Club). This is also clear from W. Swainson to A. H. Haworth, n.d. [August 1823?], ZC LS: G. Miscellaneous Correspondence. On his eventual conscription: Vigors N. A. to Swainson W. , November 1824, WSC LS, and ZC LS: E. Certificates of Election (proposed by Vigors W. S. MacLeay Stephens and Bicheno ). On the other hand Swainson had been elected an Associate (1812) and Fellow (1816) of the Linnean Society: MacLeay A. to Swainson W. , 21 April 1812 and 17 December 1816, WSC LS.

Porter Roy , “Gentlemen and geology: The Emergence of a scientific career, 1660–1920”, Historical journal, iv (1978), 809–36, p. 810.

It came as a shock to Loudon ( Loudon J. C. to Swainson W. , 10 October 1830, WSC LS), who remarked on accepting Swainson's ‘Defence’ that from what “I heard you say at Paris I had concluded you were rather against [the French]”.

Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 73), 99, 106. René Lesson (to Swainson W. , 28 September 1828, WSC LS – Swainson now being in Paris) described himself as a “great partisan for you in this country” and he promised to “enrich” Swainson's cabinet and keep him posted of acquisitions in “our musée”. Also Lesson R. , “Letter to the editor, in defence of certain French naturalists”, Magazine of natural history, iv (1831), 487–8.

Swainson , op. cit. (ref. 73), 99.

ibid., 105.

Waterton C. to Swainson W. , 8 August 1828, WSC LS. On ‘squire’ Waterton's South American travels: Irwin R. A. (ed.), Letters of Charles Waterton (London, 1955); Aldington R. , The strange life of Charles Waterton. 1782–1865 (London, 1949).

Vigors , op. cit. (ref. 74), 319, 321, 325.

ibid., 331.

Ibid ., 335–6. Vigors , “Controversy”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 202. On Swainson's defence of his “grade”, “profession”, and “pecuniary recompense”: “Final statement”, op. cit. (ref. 89), 484.

McMillan Nora F. and Cernohorsky W. O. , “William Swainson, F.R.S., in New Zealand with notes on his drawings held in New Zealand”, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, ix (1979), 161–9, p. 161; Macmillan , op. cit. (ref. 52), 430. Cambridge University bought the birds after the British Museum refused: Swainson W. to Broderip W. , 20 May 1839, WSC LS.