|
Biodiversity Explorers >
Burchell, William John
Chronology
Date |
Age |
Event |
23 Jul 1781 |
|
Born in Fulham, London, England. He was the
only son of Matthew Burchell, botanist and owner of Fulham Nursery. |
17?? |
|
Educated at Raleigh House Academy, Mitcham,
Surrey. Developed interest in botany. |
17?? |
|
Continued his studies at Kew Gardens; also
received teaching in drawing and painting. |
1803 |
22 |
Elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society. |
1805 |
24 |
Formed a partnership with William Balcombe as
a merchant to St Helena but after 6 months dissolved the partnership and
became a schoolmaster on the island. |
1807 |
26 |
Appointed by the East India Company as
naturalist on St Helena and superintendent of a new botanical garden he was
going to set up. However, a change of governors on the island upset these
plans and he resigned his post. |
10 Oct 1810 |
29 |
Sailed for Cape Town. Stayed with Rev. C.H.F.
Hesse in what is now known as Martin Melck House. He made preparations for
exploration into the interior and went on some short trips as far as Tulbagh
and Caledon. |
19 Jun 1811 |
nearly 30 |
Set out on his explorations in his
custom-made waggon. |
30 Sep 1811 |
30 |
Arrived at the mission station of Klaarwater
(Griquatown) which he made his base for several expeditions until he left
for Graaff-Reinet in January 1813. |
25 Mar 1813 |
31 |
Arrived in Graaff-Reinet. Went on to
Grahamstown and stayed there for five weeks. Visited Fish River, Kowie and
Uitenhage and then made his way to Cape Town along the coast road. |
Apr 1815 |
33 |
Arrived back in Cape Town. "Burchell covered
a vast and varied stretch of country, amassing a total of 63000 specimens,
including about 50000 plant specimens, skins, skeletons, insects, live
seeds, bulbs, and fish which had been preserved. Besides this, he made
accurate and pleasing sketches along the way, annotated his collections
copiously, compiled a Catalogus geographicus of his route and the
collecting areas, and described new genera and species. Perhaps even more
important than this, his ecological and phytogeographical notes, detailed
and accurate, are still among the few written descriptions of the vegetation
in certain areas of Southern Africa." (Gordon-Brown & Böeseken,
1972) |
Aug 1815 |
34 |
Sailed for England via St Helena and arrived
on 11 November 1815. |
1816-1819 |
35-38 |
Spent these years at his home in Fulham
processing the material he had collected. |
1819-1822 |
38-41 |
Retired to the country near Sevenoaks and
produced the first two volumes of his Travels in the
Interior of Southern Africa (London 1822, 1824). The third and final
volume never materialised; volume 2 ends on 3 August 1812 when he was at
Dithakong. |
1825 |
44 |
Sailed for Lisbon, stayed there for two
months, and then travelled to Rio de Janeiro, arriving there in July 1825.
Collected widely in Brazil. |
24 Mar 1830 |
48 |
Arrived back in England and found that his
father had died two years previously. Settled in Fulham and worked on his
extensive collections but did not publish anything more. Became "an aloof
and isolated figure". |
23 Mar 1863 |
82 |
Died by his own hand having been an invalid
for the last two years. |
Specimens collected
"His sister, Anna Burchell, presented his botanical
collections, drawings and manuscripts, both South African and Brazilian, to the
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the entomological collections, drawings and
manuscripts were given to the Hope Department, University Museum, Oxford."
(Gordon-Brown & Böeseken, 1972)
References
-
Gordon-Brown, A. & Böeseken, A.J. 1972. Burchell,
William John. In Dictionary of South African Biography Volume II (eds W.J.
de Kock & D.W. Krüger). Tafelberg-Uitgewers, pp. 104-106.
|
