Henry John Carter, FRS (18 August 1813 – 4 May 1895) was a surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 working in Bombay, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, who carried out work in geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 and zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

. He worked as an army surgeon in Bombay from 1859 on Her Majesty's Indian Service

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

, Bombay Establishment. He edited a collection of geological papers on Western India, including a summary of the geology of India

Geology of India

The geology of India started with the geological evolution of rest of the Earth i.e. 4.57 Ga . India has a diverse geology. Different regions in India contain rocks of all types belonging to different geologic periods. Some of the rocks are badly deformed and transmuted while others are recently...

, which was published in 1857. Many items of his published work appeared in the journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Royal Asiatic Society

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society...

, and in the Annals of Natural History. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 in 1859.

Personal life

Henry retired in 1862 with the rank of Surgeon-Major and settled in his native place, Budleigh Salterton where he then married in 1864. On October 4th, 1888, he suffered from a paralytic attack which impaired his speech and eyesight. In the spring of 1895 his health declined seriously, and he died on the evening of May 4th.

Awards

He was awarded the Royal Society's Royal Medal

Royal Medal

The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...

 in 1872 for "...his long continued and valuable researches in zoology, and more especially for his inquiries into the natural history of the Spongiadae

Sea sponge

Sponges are animals of the phylum Porifera . Their bodies consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. While all animals have unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells, sponges are unique in having some specialized cells, but can also have...

."

Sources

• Entry for Carter in the Royal Society's Library and Archive catalogue's details of Fellows (accessed 24 April 2008)