Henry Baker Tristram

Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early, but short-lived, supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution and creation.

Henry Baker Tristram
Born(1822-05-11)11 May 1822
Eglingham, Northumberland, England
Died8 March 1906(1906-03-08) (aged 83)
Alma materLincoln College, Oxford
Known forTravel, science in Middle East
AwardsFellow of Royal Society
Scientific career
FieldsOrnithology
Author abbrev. (botany)Tristram

Biography

He was the son of the Rev. Henry Baker Tristram,[1] born at Eglingham vicarage, near Alnwick, Northumberland. He studied at Durham School and Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1846 he was ordained a priest.

Diplomatic, scientific and missionary work

Tristram was secretary to the governor of Bermuda from 1847 to 1849. He explored the Sahara desert, and in 1858 visited Palestine, returning there in 1863 and 1872, and dividing his time between natural history observations and identifying localities mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. In 1873 he became canon of Durham Cathedral. In 1881 he travelled again to Palestine, the Lebanon, Mesopotamia, and Armenia. He also made a second voyage to Japan to visit his daughter, Katherine Alice Salvin Tristram,[2] in 1891.[3] She was a missionary and headteacher in Osaka.[4] She was the first woman missionary with the Church Missionary Society to have a degree.[5]

In 1858, he read the simultaneously-published papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace that were read in the Linnean Society, and published a paper in Ibis stating that given the "series of about 100 Larks of various species before me... I cannot help feeling convinced of the views set forth by Messrs Darwin and Wallace." He attempted to reconcile this early acceptance of evolution with creation.[6] Following the famous Oxford Debate between Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, Tristram, after early acceptance of the theory, rejected Darwinism.[7]

Tristram was a founder and original member of the British Ornithologists' Union, and appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1868. Edward Bartlett, an English ornithologist and son of Abraham Dee Bartlett, accompanied Tristram to Palestine in 1863–1864. During his travels he accumulated an extensive collection of bird skins, which he sold to the World Museum Liverpool.[8]

Published works

Tristram's publications included

Legacy

A number of birds were named after him, including Tristram's starling (also called Tristram's grackle), Tristram's warbler, Tristram's woodpecker, Tristram's serin, and Tristram's storm-petrel. He also lent his name to the gerbil Meriones tristrami [9] (also called Tristram's jird). He is also commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, Acanthodactylus tristrami.[10]

Private life

He married Eleanor Mary Bowlby in Cheltenham on 5 February 1850. Their eight children included missionary and headteacher Katherine Alice Salvin Tristram.[3]

References
  1. Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Tristram, Henry Baker (2)" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  2. "CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE Section I: East Asia Missions Part 1: Japan, 1869-1949 (including Loochoo Naval Mission, 1843-1861)". 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008.
  3. Buckland, A. R. (23 September 2004), Butlin, Robin A. (ed.), "Tristram, Henry Baker (1822–1906), geologist and naturalist", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36560, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 1 April 2023
  4. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "Katherine Tristram in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/63276, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63276, retrieved 1 April 2023
  5. Julia Katorobo, John Martin, Cathy Ross, 'Pioneering Women, Extraordinary Lives', Yes Magazine, 2004
  6. Armstrong, 2000. p. 6
  7. Hesketh,I. 2009 "Of Apes and Ancestors - Evolution, Christianity and the Oxford Debate", University of Toronto Press, 85-86.
  8. British Ornithologists' Union (13 November 2018). "Ibis". [London] Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press – via Internet Archive.
  9. Thomas, O. (1892). "Description of a new species of Meriones from Palestine". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6. 9 (50): 147–149. doi:10.1080/00222939208677293.
  10. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Tristram", p. 268).
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  1. International Plant Names Index.  Tristram.
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