Life

Thomas, younger brother of Richard Garnett (philologist)

Richard Garnett (philologist)

-Life:Garnett was born at Otley in Yorkshire on 25 July 1789, the eldest son of a paper manufacturer, William Garnett. He was educated at Otley grammar school, and afterwards learned French and Italian from an Italian gentleman named Facio, it being intended to place him in a mercantile house...

 and Jeremiah Garnett

Jeremiah Garnett

Jeremiah Garnett was an English journalist, active in the politics of Lancashire and the founding of The Guardian.-Life:Jeremiah, younger brother of Richard Garnett and elder brother of Thomas Garnett , was born at Otley in Yorkshire, 2 October 1793...

 was born at Otley

Otley

-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, England, on 18 Jan. 1799. In his early days he supported himself by weaving pieces on his own account, but about the age or twenty-one he obtained employment in the great manufacturing establishment of Garnett & Horsfall, Low Moor, Clitheroe

Clitheroe

Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is 1½ miles from the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area. It has a population of 14,697...

, founded and then directed by his uncle, Jeremiah Garnett, esq., of Roe Field. He successively became manager and partner, and at the time of his death had for many years been head of the firm.

He was one of the first to propose the artificial propagation of fish (aquaculture

Aquaculture

Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...

), on which he wrote in the Magazine of Natural History in 1832; he also first discovered the economical value of alpaca wool, which he failed in inducing his partners to take up; and he was one of the earliest experimenters with guano

Guano

Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...

.

His papers on natural history and kindred subjects, observations compared to those of Gilbert White

Gilbert White

Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...

, were collected and privately printed by his nephew, Richard Garnett

Richard Garnett

Richard Garnett C.B. was a scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. He was son of Richard Garnett, an author, philologist and assistant keeper of printed books in the British Museum....

, in 1883. The same author said in his entry in the Dictionary Of National Biography

Dictionary of National Biography

The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...

, "[Thomas Garnett's] character was strong and decided; he was an active, useful citizen," and mentions that he was mayor of Clitheroe several times. He also said his uncle, "… possessed an inquiring and speculative intellect, and was an unwearied observer and experimenter in agriculture, medicine, and natural history."

He died on 21 May 1878.