- Also known as
-
Dr John Anderson
-
primary name: Anderson, John
- Details
- individual; medical; collector; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1833-1900
- Biography
- Zoologist, physician and curator; born at Edinburgh. 1861, graduated in Medicine at the University of Edinburgh then lectured as Chair of Natural History at the Edinburgh Free Church College; 1864, moved to Calcutta; 1865, appointed curator at the Indian Museum (a post later transformed to Superintendent) by the Government of India; a few years later, became Professor of Comparative Anatomy at the Medical College, Calcutta. 1868, joined a first expedition under Major (later Sir Edward) Sladen through Burma, from Bhamo through Tapeng and Moulmein (Tengyue) to Yunnan Province, China. 1874, second expedition on similar route, under Colonel Horace Browne.
In 1881, investigated the marine zoology of the Mergui archipelago on behalf of the Trustees of the Indian Museum and simultaneously investigated the history of English trading relations with Siam (Thailand), which he published in 1890. In 1884, travelled with his wife, Grace Scott Anderson (1834-1917) through Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ragoon, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Guangzho to Japan, including Hokkaido; 1884, publication of their travel report 'Japan from India: letters & notes of the journey of two travellers, chiefly by one of them' (1884). After return to Calcutta he resigned from his post in 1886 and returned to London to pursue zoological research on Northern Africa. 1890-1891, reported travels to Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. Died in Buxton.
Elected Fellow of: the Linnean Society, 1862; the Royal Society, 1879, the Geographical Society, 1885 and elected Honorary LLD of Edinburgh, 1885. Many of his botanical specimens are held in the Indian Museum in Calcutta, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Natural History Museum, London, and the Manchester Museum. Collections acquired in Burma and Japan were donated to the British Museum.
Publications include:
Anderson, John. 1871. A report on the expedition to western Yunan via Bhamo. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing.
Anderson, John. 1876. Mandalay to Momien: A narrative of the two expeditions to western China of 1868 and 1875, under Colonel Edward B. Sladen and Colonel Horace Browne. London: Macmillan.
Anderson, Grace Scott and John Anderson. 1884. ‘Japan from India: letters & notes of the journey of two travellers, chiefly by one of them.’ Calcutta (?): Printed privately.
Anderson, John. 1896. ‘A contribution to the herpetology of Arabia. With a preliminary list of the reptiles and batrachians of Egypt.’ London: R.H. Porter.
- Bibliography
- Royal Geographic Society. 1900. ‘Obituary: Dr. John Anderson, F. R. S.’ The Geographical Journal 16 (4), pp. 481–482.
