John Freeman Milward Dovaston
Encyclopedia
John Freeman Milward Dovaston (30 December 1782, Twyford, West Felton
Shropshire
– 8 August 1854) was a British
poet
and naturalist
.
Dovaston was born in West Felton in the Shrewsbury district in an estate called "The Nursery" that was started by his father John Dovaston (1740–1808). Dovaston Sr. had taken an interest to botany after a trip to the West Indies and began to work with plants and planting. Dovaston junior studied at Oswestry Grammar School and Shrewsbury School before going to Oxford to study law. At Christ Church, Oxford
, he was nicknamed "Crazy Jack of Christ Church". After receiving a Master of Arts degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1807. He however did not like the practice and when his father died the next year, he moved back to his estate. Dovaston wrote letters to gentlemans magazines, sometimes under the pen name of "Von Osdat" and his writings even to more learned journals such as the Magazine of Natural History included light-hearted verse.
He became a friend of Thomas Bewick
and offered additions and corrections to the fifth edition of his "History of British Birds". In his letters to Bewick, he introduced many of his innovations including what he called an "Ornithotrophe" (punning with "trough" and the Greek word for trophy), a hanging bird feeder. He also experimented with artificial nest boxes. In an 1825 letter to Bewick, he described the observations he made using a small spy-glass that he called an "ornithoscope". John Denson, the editor of the Magazine of Natural History, had also been using a spy-glass since 1823 although the use of these devices for observing birds grew only after a letter in 1830 by an observer who abhorred killing birds. Dovaston also experimented with growing mistletoes on trees, fencing off grasslands to study hares and tried to document bird calls with musical notation. He made a neck ring using cello wire to mark swallows and noted that four of the birds returned the next year. He noted that individual birds had their own specific beats or haunts and rarely intruded into the territories of others and was among the first to attempt to map and demarcate the boundaries of robin territories.
West Felton
West Felton is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. At the 2001 census the parish, which also includes the settlements of Rednal, Grimpo and Haughton, had a population of 1,380....
Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
– 8 August 1854) was a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
.
Dovaston was born in West Felton in the Shrewsbury district in an estate called "The Nursery" that was started by his father John Dovaston (1740–1808). Dovaston Sr. had taken an interest to botany after a trip to the West Indies and began to work with plants and planting. Dovaston junior studied at Oswestry Grammar School and Shrewsbury School before going to Oxford to study law. At Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, he was nicknamed "Crazy Jack of Christ Church". After receiving a Master of Arts degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1807. He however did not like the practice and when his father died the next year, he moved back to his estate. Dovaston wrote letters to gentlemans magazines, sometimes under the pen name of "Von Osdat" and his writings even to more learned journals such as the Magazine of Natural History included light-hearted verse.
He became a friend of Thomas Bewick
Thomas Bewick
Thomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...
and offered additions and corrections to the fifth edition of his "History of British Birds". In his letters to Bewick, he introduced many of his innovations including what he called an "Ornithotrophe" (punning with "trough" and the Greek word for trophy), a hanging bird feeder. He also experimented with artificial nest boxes. In an 1825 letter to Bewick, he described the observations he made using a small spy-glass that he called an "ornithoscope". John Denson, the editor of the Magazine of Natural History, had also been using a spy-glass since 1823 although the use of these devices for observing birds grew only after a letter in 1830 by an observer who abhorred killing birds. Dovaston also experimented with growing mistletoes on trees, fencing off grasslands to study hares and tried to document bird calls with musical notation. He made a neck ring using cello wire to mark swallows and noted that four of the birds returned the next year. He noted that individual birds had their own specific beats or haunts and rarely intruded into the territories of others and was among the first to attempt to map and demarcate the boundaries of robin territories.