1849.] Linnean Society. 47 



ney, New South Wales, on the 18th of July 1848, in the 82nd year 

 of his age. 



William Pilkington, Esq., was born at Hatfield in the West Riding 

 of the county of York on the 7th September 1758. He died at the 

 same place in the 90th year of his age, on the 13th of August 1848, 

 leaving two sons, of whom the eldest was formerly one of the Assist- 

 ant Poor Law Commissioners, and subsequently an Assistant Com- 

 missioner of Tithes. He was lineally descended from one of the 

 oldest Saxon families in the kingdom ; a full account of which is 

 given in Burke's ' History of the Landed Gentry,' under the name 

 of Pilkington of Hatfield ; and he possessed a considerable estate in 

 the parish in which he was born and died. 



He was educated at the Charter-House School on Sutton's foun- 

 dation, and was at first intended for the church ; but having from 

 his earliest years evinced considerable talent for drawing, he was 

 persuaded to change his intended profession for one for which nature 

 seemed more particularly to have fitted him, viz. that of an architect ; 

 and he was accordingly placed as a pupil under the most eminent 

 architect of the day, the celebrated Sir Robert Taylor. Under his 

 tuition he advanced rapidly in his profession, was appointed by the 

 Government Surveyor to the Customs and Transport Boards, and 

 during his professional career designed and superintended the erec- 

 tion of many public and private buildings, which evince his taste 

 and skill in architecture to have been not inconsiderable. He was 

 indefatigable in business, and although his professional studies ab- 

 sorbed the greatest part of the day, yet he generally found some 

 leisure time in each to devote to his favourite pursuits, botany, con- 

 chology and mineralogy, the branches of natural history in which he 

 took the most interest. He possessed a well-preserved Hortus Siccus 

 of his own collection ; and a fine collection of shells and minerals, with 

 many very rare and valuable works on all these subjects. During his 

 professional life he resided in Whitehall Yard, Westminster; and 

 there, many men, eminent for their love and knowledge of and services 

 to natural history, frequently found themselves congregated under his 

 hospitable roof. Among his most intimate friends were Dr. Shaw, 

 Dr. Maton, Sir James Smith, Sir Alexander Crichton, Mr. Aylmer 

 Bourke Lambert, The Rev. Thomas Rackett, Mr. Charles Hatchett, 

 and Mr. William Swainson, all well-known Fellows of the Linnean 

 Society. 



He was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society on the 17th of 

 March 1795, and was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, 

 into which he was elected on the 16th June 1800. 



