Alfred Newton FRS (
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
, 11 June 1829 –
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
, 7 June 1907) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
zoologistZoology, also spelled zoölogy, is the branch of biology that focuses on the structure, function, behavior, and evolution of animals. The zoologist's pronunciation of "zoology" is , though a common spelling pronunciation is .-Systems of classification:...
and
ornithologistOrnithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
.
Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. In 1900 he was awarded the
Royal MedalThe Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
of the
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
and the
Gold MedalThe Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or to one of each in the same year...
of the Linnaean Society.
Life
Alfred Newton was the fifth son of William Newton of Elvedon in
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, sometime
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
IpswichIpswich is a non-metropolitan district and the county town of Suffolk, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. Nearby towns are Felixstowe in Suffolk and Harwich and Colchester in Essex...
and a
Justice of the PeaceA justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice and deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for the County of
NorfolkNorfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast, including The Wash. The county town is Norwich...
. The family wealth was founded on
sugar plantations in the CaribbeanThe sugar cane plant was the main crop produced on the numerous plantations throughout the Caribbean through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as almost every island was covered with sugar plantations and mills for refining the cane for its sweet properties. The main source of labor was African...
, where Alfred's grandfather Samuel Newton had a sugarcane plantation in St Kitts, and a property in St Croix (both in the West Indies). With the abolition of slavery the golden days of sugar were over, and William sold up and returned to England, purchasing the property of Elvedon, near
ThetfordThetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588 -History:...
from the Earl of Albermarle. Elvedon (pronounced and sometimes spelt 'Eldon') was a house and estate with a history. The house was built in 1770 by Admiral Augustus Keppel (Lord Keppel) on land where James II had hunted game. After the comparatively humble Newtons left, the estate was owned by Prince
Duleep SinghThis article is about Maharaja Dalip Singh Sukerchakia. For other uses, see Dalip SinghMaharaja Dalip Singh Sukerchakia , , GCSI was the last Maharaja of Sikh Raj...
, the
SikhSikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term , meaning "disciple, learner" or , meaning "instruction"....
ruler of the Punjab and the last Maharajah of
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi. Historically the main city of the undivided Punjab, it is often called the Garden of Mughals because of its rich Mughal heritage...
, and then the
GuinnessGuinness is a popular dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is based on the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. A distinctive feature is the burnt...
family (
Earl of IveaghEarl of Iveagh is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the businessman and philanthropist Edward Guinness, 1st Viscount Iveagh. He was the third son of Sir Benjamin Guinness, 1st Baronet, of Ashford, and the great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, the founder of the...
).
In 1828 the Newton family, complete with children and servants, made a lengthy trip to
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. On the way back Alfred was born on June 11, 1829 at
Les DélicesLes Délices, or "The Delights", was a Geneva home of Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer and philosopher. Voltaire moved to Les Délices in January 1755, having purchased a life interest in the estate. Being a foreigner, he could not buy the house directly.-External links:*...
, a chateau near
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
that had once been owned by
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and his defense of civil liberties, including both freedom of religion and free trade.Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every...
. Alfred had a lively childhood, but suffered an accident when about five or six, which left him somewhat lame in one leg. He went to school in 1844 to Mr Walker's school at
StetchworthStetchworth is a small village and civil parish in East Cambridgeshire, England, from the horse-racing centre of Newmarket and around from Cambridge. The village of Dullingham is close to Stetchworth.The last census recorded 691 residents....
near Newmarket, and was keeping birds in cages and looking after various other animals from quite a young age.
As with Charles Darwin, a youth spent shooting game birds –
blackThe Black Grouse or Blackgame is a large bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, breeding across northern Eurasia in moorland and bog areas near to woodland, mostly boreal. The Black Grouse is closely related to the Caucasian Black Grouse...
or
red grouseThe Red Grouse is a medium sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland...
,
common pheasantThe Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Asia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...
,
partridgePartridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
– led to a more general interest. Unlike Darwin, however, Newton's interest stayed with birds, some of which were rare even in those days. They included the
Great BustardThe Great Bustard, Otis tarda, is in the bustard family, the only member of the genus Otis. It breeds in southern and central Europe, where it is the largest species of bird, and across temperate Asia. European populations are mainly resident, but Asian birds move further south in winter...
(
Otis tarda), Montague's Harrier (
Circus pygargus), ravens, buzzards (
Buteo sp.), redpolls, wrynecks (
Jynx), which are small woodpeckers that specialise in ants. "The vast warrens of the 'Breck', the woods and water-meadows of the valley of the Little Ouse, and the neighbouring
FenlandFenland is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in March, and covers the neighbouring market towns of Chatteris, Whittlesey, and Wisbech, often called the "capital of the fens"....
made an ideal training-ground for a naturalist". This enthusiasm he shared with his younger brother Edward: the two carried out bird observation when they were together and corresponded whenever they were apart.
In 1846 he went to a tutor in
BiggleswadeBiggleswade is a market town on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. It is well served by transport routes, being close to the A1 road between London and the North, as well as a railway station on the main rail link North from London .-Geography:Located about 40 miles north of Central London...
for a few months, and in 1848 Newton entered
Magdalene College, CambridgeMagdalene College redirects here, see also Magdalen College, OxfordMagdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England....
as a
pensionerIn common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...
or
commonerIn British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the Sovereign nor a peer. Therefore, any member of the Royal Family who is not a peer, such as HRH Prince William of Wales or HRH The Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy...
. In Cambridge jargon, this meant a student who paid for both his education and his lodgings. Newton graduated BA in 1853. He spent the rest of his life at Magdalene, and never married. A fall later in life, when he was on a trip to
HeligolandHeligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the southeastern corner of the North Sea...
, further crippled him, and he then walked with the aid of two sticks, instead of one, as formerly. "From a three-legged, he has become a four-legged man" commented a friend.
Career
In 1854 he was elected Traveling Fellow of Magdalene College, and subsequently visited many parts of the world, including Lapland,
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
,
SpitsbergenSpitsbergen is a Norwegian island, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The island of Spitsbergen covers approximately 39,044 km²...
, the West Indies and
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. In 1866 he became the first
Professor of ZoologyThe Professorship of Zoology is a professorship at the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1866 it was originally the 'Professorship of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy', but was renamed in 1934.- Professors of Zoology :* Alfred Newton...
and Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge, a position which he retained until his death. He was one of the few British Professors of Zoology in whose appointment Huxley did
not have a hand: in fact the procedure was for candidates to
canvass for votes! (presumably amongst the MAs of the University). Result of poll: Newton 110; Dr Drosier 82. Newton was one of the first zoologists to accept and champion the views of
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
, and his early lecture courses as professor were on evolution and zoogeography.
Newton was a leader in founding the
British Ornithologists' UnionThe British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....
in 1858, and its quarterly journal, the
IbisIbis, subtitled "the International Journal of Avian Science", is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the British Ornithologists' Union. Topics covered include ecology, conservation, behaviour, palaeontology, taxonomy and new species. The current editor is Dr. Michael Brooke...
in 1859. He wrote books, including
Ootheca Wolleyana (begun in 1864),
Zoology (1872), and
A Dictionary of Birds (1893-1896). He contributed memoirs to scientific societies, and edited the
Ibis (1865-1870), the
Zoological Record (1870-1872), and
Yarrell's British Birds (1871-1882). His services to ornithology and
zoogeographyZoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of animal species and their attributes...
were recognized by the
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
in 1900, when it awarded him the
Royal MedalThe Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
.
Newton spent some time studying the vanishing birds of the
Mascarene IslandsThe Mascarene Islands is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar comprising Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Cargados Carajos shoals, plus the former islands of the Saya de Malha, Nazareth and Soudan banks. The collective title is derived from the Portuguese navigator Pedro...
, from where his brother Sir
Edward NewtonSir Edward Newton KCMG was a British colonial administrator and ornithologist. He was the brother of Alfred Newton....
sent him specimens. These included the
DodoThe dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit and nesting on the ground....
on Mauritius and the
SolitaireSolitaire, also called patience, often refers to single-player card games involving a layout of cards with a goal of sorting them in some manner. However it is possible to play the same games competitively and cooperatively...
on
RodriguesRodrigues, named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, is the smallest of the Mascarene Islands and a dependency of Mauritius. With a peak elevation of approximately 355 meters, it is located 560 km east of Mauritius island, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is 109 km²...
, both already extinct. In 1872 he was the first person to describe
Newton's ParakeetThe Newton's Parakeet was a parrot endemic to the forests of the island of Rodrigues, a dependency of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean...
which also lived on Rodrigues. This bird became extinct in 1875.
Protection of wild-life
Newton was a prominent member of the Society for the Protection of Birds (later, 1903, the RSPB), and carried on a long campaign to influence women against the fashion of adorning their hats with the flight feathers of raptors and other fine birds. His letters to
The Times and addresses to the
British Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between scientific workers...
meetings on this subject were regularly reprinted as pamphlets by the Society.
One of his most successful works was a series of investigations into the
Desirability of establishing a 'Close-time' for the preservation of indigenous animals. These were instigated and published by the British Association between 1872 and 1903, leading towards the present-day legislation concerning the
closed seasonA closed season is a hunting term used to describe the time of the year during which hunting an animal of a given species is contrary to law. Typically, closed seasons are designed to protect a species when they are most vulnerable or, sometimes, to protect them during their breeding season.-...
s for game fish, shell-fish, birds and mammals (Game laws). The basic concept, as is now well known, is to protect animals during their breeding season so as to prevent the stock from being brought close to extinction.
Reception of the Origin of Species
Newton's correspondence gives an intimate view of how he encountered the momentous idea of
evolutionIn biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a...
by means of
natural selectionNatural selection is the process by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations...
:
Not many days after my return home there reached me the part of the Journal of the Linnean Society which bears on its cover the date 20th August 1858, and contains the papers by Mr DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
and Mr WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
, which were communicated to that Society at its special meeting of the first of July preceding... I sat up late that night to read it; and never shall I forget the impression it made upon me. Herein was contained a perfectly simple solution of all the difficulties which had been troubling me for months past... I am free to confess that in my joy I did not then perceive that... dozens of other difficulties lay in the path... but I was convinced a vera causa [true cause] had been found... and I never doubted for one moment, then nor since, that we had one of the grandest discoveries of the age—a discovery all the more grand because it was so simple.
Only four days after the publication of the famous 1858 paper, and one day after he read it, Newton started to apply Darwin and Wallace's idea to various problems in ornithology.
The 1860 British Association Oxford debate
The British Association annual meeting for 1860, held in the
University MuseumThe Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the...
in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
, was the location for one of the most important public debates in 19th century biology. Newton was present and left a record of what happened in a letter to his brother Edward. The famous debate between Huxley and
WilberforceSamuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his day. The nickname derives from a comment by Benjamin Disraeli that the Bishop's manner was "unctuous, oleaginous,...
took place on Saturday 30 June 1860 and in his letter Newton writes:
In the Nat. Hist. Section we had another hot Darwinian debate... After [lengthy preliminaries] Huxley was called upon by HenslowJohn Stevens Henslow was an English botanist and geologist.Henslow was born at Rochester, the son of a solicitor John Prentis Henslow, who was the son of Sir John Henslow. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge where he graduated as 16th wrangler in 1818, the year in which Adam Sedgwick...
to state his views at greater length, and this brought up the Bp. of Oxford... Referring to what Huxley had said two days before, about after all its not signifying to him whether he was descended from a Gorilla or not, the Bp. chafed him and asked whether he had a preference for the descent being on the father's side or the mother's side? This gave Huxley the opportunity of saying that he would sooner claim kindred with an Ape than with a man like the Bp. who made so ill an use of his wonderful speaking powers to try and burke, by a display of authority, a free discussion on what was, or was not, a matter of truth, and reminded him that on questions of physical science 'authority' had always been bowled out by investigation, as witness astronomy and geology.
He then caught hold of the Bp's assertions and showed how contrary they were to facts, and how he knew nothing about what he had been discoursing on. A lot of people afterwards spoke... The feeling of the audience was very much against the Bp.
The letter, dated 25 July 1860, provides good evidence that the traditional account of the debate is reasonably accurate – indeed, the best kind of evidence we could have in the absence of a verbatim account.
The 1862 British Association Cambridge debate
Newton was also present at the Cambridge meeting of the British Association two years later. Ever since 1857 when
Richard OwenSir Richard Owen KCB was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.Owen is probably best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria and for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
presented (to the Linnean Society) his view that man was marked off from all other mammals by possessing features of the brain peculiar to the genus
HomoHomo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old, evolving from Australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis...
, Huxley had been on his trail. The issue had been debated at the British Association in 1860 and 1861 (Manchester). At the 1862 Cambridge meeting Huxley arranged for his friend
William FlowerSir William Henry Flower KCB FRCS FRS was an English comparative anatomist and surgeon. Flower became a leading authority on mammals, and especially on the primate brain...
to give a public dissection to show that the same structures were indeed present, not only in apes, but in monkeys also. Flower stood up and said "I happen to have in my pocket a monkey's brain" — and produced the object in question! (report in the Times). In a letter to his brother Newton wrote:
There was a grand kick-up again between Owen and Huxley, the former struggling against facts with a devotion worthy of a better cause. The latter now takes it easy, and laughs over it all, but Flower and RollestonGeorge Rolleston MA MD FRCP FRS was an English physician and zoologist. He was the first Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology to be appointed at the University of Oxford, a post he held from 1860 until his death in 1881...
are too savage. No doubt it is very irritating when Owen will not take the slightest notice of all they have done and proved, and Owen does it all in such a happy manner, that he almost carries conviction from those who know how utterly wrong as to facts he is.
See also
- T.H. Huxley
- 1860 Oxford evolution debate
The 1860 Oxford evolution debate took place at the Oxford University Museum on 30 June 1860, seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species...
- Reaction to Darwin's theory
The immediate reaction to Darwin's theory followed closely on his publication of On the Origin of Species, and Charles Darwin’s book sparked off international debate, though the heat of controversy was less than that over earlier works such as Vestiges of Creation...
- William Henry Flower
Sir William Henry Flower KCB FRCS FRS was an English comparative anatomist and surgeon. Flower became a leading authority on mammals, and especially on the primate brain...
A partial list of Newton's publications
..
- Newton A. (1864–1907), Ootheca Wolleyana: 1. An illustrated catalogue of the collection of birds' eggs formed by the late John Wolley 2. Eggs of the native birds of Britain and list of British birds, past and present. The first part was published in 1864; it was not until 1902 that Newton was able to resume the work and the next parts appeared in 1902, 1905 and 1907. The work is illustrated with colour lithographic plates and with black & white illustrations. Artists include Newton, Balcomb, Grönvold
Henrik Grönvold was a Danish bird illustrator.Grönvold developed an interest in natural history at a young age, and would spend his time drawing the birds and animals around him. After studying drawing in Copenhagen he went on to work as a draughtsman for the Danish artillery from 1880.Grönvold...
, M. Hanhart, J. Jury, and Joseph WolfJoseph Wolf was a German artist.-Germany:Wolf was the son of a farmer, and was born in Mörz near Münstermaifeld, not far from the river Moselle, in the Eifel region. In his boyhood he was an assiduous student of bird and animal life, and showed a remarkable capacity as a draughtsman of natural...
. The 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica comments: "[This] was an amplification of the numerous articles on birds which he contributed to the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica".... ........
- Newton A. (assisted by Hans Gadow, with contributions from Richard Lydekker
Richard Lydekker was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history.Lydekker was born in London, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a first-class in the Natural Science tripos...
, Charles S. Roy and Robert Shufeldt) (1893-1896), Dictionary of Birds. Reprinted in one volume (1088 pages) Black, London, 1896.
- Newton A. et al. (1896-1903), Bird migration in Great Britain and Ireland. Reports of the Committee... British Association.
External links