Abbreviation | PSNS |
---|---|
Founded | 1867 |
Type | Scottish Charity |
Registration no. | SC012718 |
Headquarters | A. K. Bell Library |
Location |
|
Area served | Perth and Kinross |
President | David Bowler |
Website | www |
Perthshire Society of Natural Science (PSNS) is one of the oldest scientific societies in Scotland, having been established in 1867. [1] Under its parent body, it has four sections covering botany, ornithology, archaeology and history and photography. [1]
Now based at the A. K. Bell Library in Perth, Scotland, the society was founded by a group of males, but by the end of the 19th century, around a quarter of its members were female. [1]
Whereas specimens were physically collected by the society's members during its early years, now digital photography is used, along with digital data, to create records. [1]
In 1935, the society donated paintings and natural-history collections to Perth Museum and Art Gallery to display in its new extension, which was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York, [2] the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
The society undertook an excavation at Pitmiddle village (whose history dates to the 12th century) and Elcho Nunnery, and published its report in 1988. [3]
The society's longest-serving member is Rhoda Fothergill, who died in 2019. She joined in 1965, and was its secretary when she retired 47 years later. Many of her papers, such as A History of King James VI Hospital , were published in the journals of the PSNS. [4] Other notable past members include Charles Macintosh, who was known as "the Perth Naturalist". [5]
The society published The Flora of Perthshire, by Francis Buchanan White, [6] in 1898, using records provided by members, including Macintosh. [7] White identified thirteen species of fungi previously unknown in the British Isles, four of them new to science. He shared this interest with Beatrix Potter, who had often visited the area since she was a child, [8] and they exchanged specimens and drawings. [9] He left his collection of specimens, together with some botanical illustrations by Beatrix Potter, to Perth Museum. [10]
Architect John Young was one of the society's early members. His son, George, also joined the society. [11]
Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet, was a president of the society. The building's museum, formerly at 62–72 Tay Street in Perth, was built in his memory in 1881, two years after his death. [12]
Another former president was W. H. Findlay, a noted photographer. Around a quarter of his lifetime collection of 25,000 photographs are now housed in A. K. Bell Library, [13] with the rest in the society's possession. [14] Fellow photographer Magnus Jackson became a member in 1877. [15]
As of 2024, the society's president is David Bowler. [16] He was preceded in the role by Nancy Boyd. [3]
Helen Beatrix Heelis, usually known as Beatrix Potter, was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was her first commercially published work in 1902. Her books, including 23 Tales, have sold more than 250 million copies. An entrepreneur, Potter was a pioneer of character merchandising. In 1903, Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy, making him the oldest licensed character.
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west.
Perth is a centrally located Scottish city, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and is the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about 47,430 in 2018.
Perth and Kinross is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Dundee, and Fife to the east, Clackmannanshire to the south, and Stirling and Argyll and Bute to the west.
Aberfeldy is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, on the River Tay. A small market town, Aberfeldy is located in Highland Perthshire. It was mentioned by Robert Burns in the poem The Birks Of Aberfeldy and in the Ed Sheeran song The Hills of Aberfeldy.
Kenmore is a small village in Perthshire, in the Highlands of Scotland, located where Loch Tay drains into the River Tay.
Elcho Castle is located close to the south bank of the River Tay approximately four miles south-east of Perth, Scotland, in the region of Perth and Kinross. It was maintained by Clan Wemyss from its construction around 1560 until it was put into the care of the Secretary of State for Scotland in the early 20th century, though was not occupied for the entire time. In around 1830 it was re-roofed and a nearby cottage constructed. The castle has been a scheduled monument since 1920 on the grounds of being "a particularly fine example of a Medieval tower-house", and the cottage became a listed building in 1971 in recognition of its national importance. The castle is unusual in that it has both en suite guest accommodation like a mansion, but also a large number of gun loops.
Perth Art Gallery is the principal art gallery and exhibition space in the city of Perth, Scotland. It is located partly in the Marshall Monument, named in memory of Thomas Hay Marshall, a former provost of Perth.
Birnam is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located 12 miles (19 km) north of Perth on the A9 road, the main tourist route through Perthshire, in an area of Scotland marketed as Big Tree Country. The village originated from the Victorian era with the coming of the railway in 1856, although the place and name is well known because William Shakespeare mentioned Birnam Wood in Macbeth:
MACBETH: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane/ I cannot taint with fear.
Elcho Priory was a medieval Cistercian priory in Perthshire, Scotland, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Killiechassie is a country estate and house near Weem, about one mile northeast of Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The estate lies on the banks of the River Tay in some 12 acres, about 74 miles north of Edinburgh. It was owned by the Douglas family in the latter part of the 19th century, and a new house was erected in 1865. A dovecote by the house was listed as Grade B on 9 June 1981. The house was purchased by author J.K. Rowling in 2001.
Charles Macintosh (1839–1922), known as 'the Perthshire Naturalist', was a musician and self-taught amateur naturalist from Inver, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland. He, with his younger brother James, who was a fiddler and himself a composer, represented the third generation of an important musical family in the area. Their grandfather James (1791-1876) had learned fiddle from Niel Gow, who also lived in Inver.
Pitmiddle was a village in the Gowrie region of Perthshire, Scotland. It is now deserted, the last resident having left in 1938, with little evidence of its previous habitation. Its history dates back to the 12th century, and it is now a scheduled monument.
J. & G. Young was a Scottish architectural firm from Perth composed of John Young and his son, George. They were in business between 1885 and 1895, when John died. Their total number of works together numbers around fifteen, ranging from churches to public buildings.
The A. K. Bell Library is an historic building on York Place in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The building was originally a hospital before becoming a municipal building and later a library. The central section of the building is Category A listed. The lodge to the estate, now removed from its original location, is Category B listed.
William Hall Findlay was a Scottish photographer and historian. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, he took photographs of the townscape of Perth, Perth and Kinross, illustrating its transition into the modern era. Many of these were featured in his 1984 book Heritage of Perth. Around a quarter of his lifetime collection of 25,000 photographs are now housed in Perth's A. K. Bell Library.
Magnus Jackson was a Scottish landscape photographer from Perth. He was noted for his use of the collodion process in developing his photographic film. He left around 2,500 glass photographic negatives taken in Perth and the surrounding area between the late 1850s and 1890. These are now on permanent display at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
62–72 Tay Street is an historic row of buildings in Perth, Scotland. Designed by local architect John Young, the building is Category B listed, dating to 1881. Standing on Tay Street, the building was originally the museum home of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, constructed in memory of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet, a past president of the society. The museum housed two exhibits: a local collection and The Type Museum, which illustrated the main types of animals, plants and rocks.
David Prophet Ramsay was an early-mid 20th century Scottish painter specialising in portrait, figure and, occasionally, landscape painting.
Agnes Hay Somerville "Rhoda" Fothergill was a Scottish historian, educator and archaeologist. She published several historical guides to Perth, Scotland. Her focus areas were Old Perth, the Greyfriars Burial Ground and people of 19th-century Perth. She was the longest-serving member of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science (PSNS). Her contribution as a historian was recognised with a British Empire Medal in 2014.