William Robert Sherrin (20 May 1871 - 22 March 1955) was a scientific collector, taxidermist, and amateur botanist. He was employed at the British Museum of Natural History from 1895 to 1947.
Sherrin was born on 20 May 1871 in Twickenham as the son of John Sherrin [1] and Decima Vaughan Blunt. [2] [3] He was one of seven children: five sons and two daughters. [3] He attended the Taplow Grammar School, and was noted to be skilled at painting and drawing. At age 8, Sherrin and his family moved to Ramsgate. [1] He was described as "weakly" [4] and "delicate", [5] and was thus recommended to spend much time outdoors. [1] As a young adult, he opened and operated a taxidermy shop in Ramsgate. [5] [6]
Sherrin's skill at taxidermy led to his appointment as an "articulator" (one who reassembles animal skeletons) at the British Museum of Natural History's Zoological Department in 1895. [1] He was employed in the Department until 1928, though from 1919-1928 he was a part-time employee. In 1928, he transferred to the Department of Botany at a part-time assistant, where he would remain until 1947, when he finally retired. All told, he was employed at the British Museum for 52 years. [4] After retiring, he was awarded a Civil List pension. While at the British Museum, Sherrin had two mammal species named in his honor. [1] British zoologist Oldfield Thomas named the Tasmanian long-eared bat (Nyctophilus sherrini) after him. Of Sherrin, Thomas wrote, "every mammalogist who has visited the Museum is indebted [to him] for assistance . . . [his] admirable preparation of tiny skulls and tinier bacula has so immensely helped in the mammalian work done both by staff and visitors." [7] Robert Charles Wroughton named a species of gerbil after him, Tatera sherrini, in 1917, saying that Sherrin "has given such invaluable assistance in organising the storage of the Survey material." [8] However, T. sherrini has since been recognized as a synonym of Tatera indica . [4]
Sherrin was made the secretary and curator of the South London Botanical Institute in 1919. [1] Sherrin had great interest in mosses, and was a member of the Moss Exchange Club from 1905. [5] Allegedly, one of the reasons for his love of mosses was that they were often used to pack zoological specimens for transport. [1] He later joined the successor of the Moss Exchange Club, the British Bryological Society; in 1948, he was elected as an Honorary Member of the Society. He was the first curator of the British Bryological Society's Herbarium, from 1925 until 1947. [9] He was considered an authority on Sphagnum species. [5] He illustrated moss specimens for his booklet Study of Mosses in the London District, which was published in 1916 by the School Nature Study Union. He also published An Illustrated Handbook of the British Sphagna. He was the author of several research publications on mosses, including "Revision of the genus Spiridens." [4] From 1947-1948, he served as the president of the British Bryological Society. [1]
Sherrin had a passion for collecting moss specimens, and would lead amateur and professional botanists on "rambles" in search of mosses. In his obituary, P.W. Richards and E.C. Wallace wrote, "Like the good sphagnologist he was, Sherrin was not afraid of wet feet and when taking a party through the boggy ground at Oxshott or elsewhere would lead firmly forward through the wettest places rather than look for a way round." [5]
In 1919, Sherrin was elected an Associate Honoris causa of the Linnean Society of London. [4] He was also an honorary member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles and the Zoological Society of London. [5]
Sherrin was remembered by his colleagues as highly successful, a "born teacher", [1] and an "admirable" general naturalist and field botanist. [5] Job Edward Lousley stated that "Sherrin transformed the collections of the South London Botanical Institute to such an extent that few people using them today can realise how much they owe to his efforts." [4]
Sherrin was twice married; his first wife died in 1938. He had at least two children, as he was survived by a son and a daughter. [4] Sherrin died on 22 March 1955 in London [5] after a long illness. [4]
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and paleobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. His contributions include one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming; the observation of Brownian motion; early work on plant pollination and fertilisation, including being the first to recognise the fundamental difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms; and some of the earliest studies in palynology. He also made numerous contributions to plant taxonomy, notably erecting a number of plant families that are still accepted today; and numerous Australian plant genera and species, the fruit of his exploration of that continent with Matthew Flinders.
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Coslett Herbert Waddell (Rev.) was an Irish priest,, and botanist.
Viktor Ferdinand Brotherus, Finnish botanist who studied the mosses (Bryophyta), best known for authoring the treatment of 'Musci' in Engler and Prantl's Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien.
Nyctophilus is a genus of the vespertilionids or vesper bats. They are often termed Australian big-eared bats or long-eared bats, as the length of their ears often greatly exceeds that of the head. This genus occurs in the New Guinean-Australian region.
James Eustace Bagnall ALS was an English naturalist with a particular interest in botany, especially bryology. He was the author of the first Flora of Warwickshire (VC38) in 1891. A noted bryologist, he wrote the Handbook of Mosses in the Young Collector Series, various editions of which were published between 1886 and 1910.
George Gardner was a Scottish biologist mainly interested in botany.
Job Edward Lousley was a banker by career, a renowned amateur botanist and an author of many publications including ″Wild Flowers of Chalk and Limestone″ in the New Naturalist series and the first flora of the Isles of Scilly published in 1971.
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Thomas Wrench Naylor Beckett was an English-born coffee and tea planter in Ceylon and a noted botanist and bryologist, who collected specimens there and in the north-western Himalaya between 1882 and c.1900. He did not publish any account of the mosses he collected while in Ceylon – many of his specimens though are recorded in Max Fleischer's "Musci der Flora von Buitenzorg". He emigrated to New Zealand where he also collected. His main pteridophyte collection is at World Museum Liverpool. His bryophyte material at Kew was transferred to the British Museum of Natural History in about 1961 in terms of the Morton Agreement. The University of Canterbury and Christchurch houses some 12,000 of his specimens. Beckett was one of three amateur bryologists active in Christchurch, the other two being Robert Brown (1824–1906) and Thomas George Wright (1831–1914).
Johannes Gossweiler aka John Gossweiler or João Gossweiler, was state botanist to the Government of Angola from 1899 until his death. He made important collections in every district of Angola and created the first phytogeographic map of that country. His collections of African plant specimens were sent regularly to Lisbon, the British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the University of Coimbra. Duplicates were also kept at the Herbarium of the Instituto de Investigação Agronómica in Angola. Today, many herbaria contain specimens he collected.
Edwin Bunting Bartram was an American botanist and bryologist. He described many dozens of new species in bryology, and contributed 143 works, including a number of books. He was a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia Botanical Club, Torrey Botanical Club, New England Botanical Club, Sullivant Moss Society and British Bryological Society.
A.L. Kathleen King (1893–1978) was an Irish botanist and one of Ireland's leading field bryologists.
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Margaret Sibella Brown was a Canadian bryologist specializing in mosses and liverworts native to Nova Scotia. Although lacking formal scientific training, she has been recognized for her contributions to bryology and as an authority on the mosses and liverworts of Nova Scotia. Samples she collected are now housed at major herbaria in North America and Europe.
The Tasmanian long-eared bat is a species of vesper bat endemic to Tasmania.
Howard Alvin Crum was an American botanist dedicated to the study of mosses, and was a renowned expert on the North American bryoflora.
Lewis Edward Anderson was an American botanist dedicated to the study of mosses, and was a renowned expert on the North American bryoflora.
Alexander William Evans was a botanist, bryologist, and mycologist that specialized in the flora of Connecticut.
Eric Vernon Watson (1914-1999) was a British bryologist.