George Robert Waterhouse (1810 – 1888) was an English

England

England 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, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

.

In 1833, Waterhouse was elected as the Royal Entomological Society of London

Royal Entomological Society of London

The Royal Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. It has a major national and international role in disseminating information about insects and improving communication between entomologists....

's librarian and curator of insects and records.

He was made curator of the Zoological Society of London

Zoological Society of London

The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats...

's museum in 1836. Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

 entrusted him with the study of the mammals and beetles collected on the voyage of the Beagle. In 1843 he became assistant keeper of Mineralogy

Mineralogy

Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...

 and Geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 at the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, becoming keeper in 1851 upon the death of Charles Konig

Charles Konig

Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig or Karl Dietrich Eberhard König was a German naturalist.-Biography:He was born in Brunswick and educated at Göttingen. He came to England at the end of 1800 to organize the collections of Queen Charlotte. On the completion of this work he became assistant to...

. In 1857 the department was divided and he was made keeper of Geology, remaining so until 1880.

Waterhouse was the author of A natural history of the Mammalia (1846-48).

He was the brother of Frederick George Waterhouse

Frederick George Waterhouse

Frederick George Waterhouse was an English naturalist, zoologist and entomologist who made significant contributions to the study of the natural history of Australia....

, also a zoologist.

Amongst the species he described are the Numbat

Numbat

The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...

 (Myrmecobius fasciatus), and the Syrian or Golden Hamster Mesocricetus auratus.