169 



JOHN VAUGHAN THOMPSON 



(1779-1847). 



By James Britten, F.L.S. 



A DISCUSSION on "The terms Polyzoa and Bryozoa," which 

 occupied the attention of the Linnean Society on three evenings 

 (March 2, 16, May 4) of its last session, is reported at lengtli in 

 the Proceedings of that session (1910-11). It includes a paper by 

 the Eev. T. E. K. Stebbing which, although headed " On John 

 Vaughan Thompson and his Polyzoa," is naturally enough con- 

 fined to the consideration of the author in relation to that more 

 important portion of his w^ork. But as neither here nor in the 

 Dictionary of National Biography nor in Symholce AntiUance is 

 Thompson's botanical work recognized, and the references to him 

 in the Biographical Index are very meagre, it may be w^orth wdiile 

 to put together wdiat is known of him from a botanical point 

 of view. 



John Vaughan Thompson was born at Berwick-upon-Tweed 

 on November 19, 1779. He studied in the University of Edin- 

 burgh in 1797 and 1798, taking anatomy, surgery, and chemistry 

 in the former year, and anatomy, midwifery, and botany in the 

 latter. In 1799 he "joined the Prince of Wales's Fencibles as 

 assistant surgeon, and on 15 Dec. 1799 w^as ordered to sail with 

 the 37th foot for Gibraltar. Three months later his regiment 

 embarked for the West Indies and Guiana. . . . He was made 

 full surgeon in 1803 " (Diet. Nat. Biogr.). He remained in the 

 West Indies until the close of 1809, w^ien he returned to 

 England. 



Thompson must early have acquired considerable proficiency in 

 botany. His Catalogue of Plants groicing in the Vicinity of 

 Berwick upon Ticeed was prepared before he left England — i. e. at 

 or before the age of twenty — and show^s a very complete know- 

 ledge, of the plants of that region and of the literature of the 

 period : the pretty coloured group which adorns the title-page and 

 a plate (also coloured) and dissections show him to have been a 

 capable artist. The w^ork is dedicated to William Percival Pick- 

 ford, Esq., of Edinburgh, "to whom the author feels almost entirely 

 indebted for his early initiation into the principles and practice of 

 scientific botany." " Although by much the greater part of the 

 habitats were the fruits of my own excursions," he tells us in his 

 preface (wdiich is not dated), " yet for a few^ I was originally 

 indebted to my father ; a few more were pointed out by William 

 Percival Pickford Esq." " The references to my Hortus Siccus," 

 he says, " have been subjoined, in consequence of my intention of 

 depositing it in the shop of Mr. Keid, stationer in Bridge-street, 

 Berwick, where it will be at all times accessible to such ladies and 

 gentlemen as may wish to consult it." He acknowledges " per- 

 sonal and kind aid " from Smith, Sowerby, and Dickson, and 

 makes special mention of " the facilities which Lord Seaforth 



