William John Burchell
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
explorer
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, traveller, artist and author. He was the son of Matthew Burchell, botanist and owner of Fulham Nursery, nine and a half acres of land adjacent to the gardens of Fulham Palace
Fulham Palace
Fulham Palace in Fulham, London , England, at one time the main residence of the Bishop of London, is of medieval origin. It was the country home of the Bishops of London from at least 11th century until 1975, when it was vacated...
. Burchell served a botanical apprenticeship at Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
and was elected F.L.S. in 1803. At about this time, he became enamoured of a Miss Lucia Green of Fulham, but faced strong disapproval from his parents when he broached the idea of an engagement. On 7 August 1805 he sailed for St. Helena aboard the East Indiaman "Northumberland" and intended to set up there as a merchant with a partner from London, William Balcombe (1779-1829). A year of trading saw Burchell unhappy with his situation and the partnership was speedily dissolved. Three months later he accepted a position as schoolmaster on the island and later as official botanist. In 1810 he sailed to the Cape on the recommendation of Gen. J.W. Janssens
Jan Willem Janssens
Jonkheer Jan Willem Janssens GCMWO was a Dutch nobleman, soldier and statesman who served both as the governor-general of the Cape Colony and Dutch East Indies.-Early life:...
to explore and to add to his botanical collection.
Landing at Table Bay on 26 November 1810, after stormy weather had prevented a landing for 13 days, he set about planning an expedition into the interior, leaving Cape Town in June 1811.
Burchell travelled in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
between 1810 and 1815, collecting over 50,000 specimens, and covering over 7000 km, much over unexplored terrain. He described his journey in Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, a two-volume work appearing in 1822 and 1824, since reprinted in 1967 by C.Struik of Cape Town. There is little doubt that a third volume was planned, since the second volume ends long before completion of his journey. On 25 August 1815 he sailed from Cape Town with 48 crates of specimens aboard the vessel "Kate", calling at St. Helena and arriving back at Fulham on 11 November 1815. He travelled in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
between 1825 and 1830, again collecting a large number of specimens, including over 20,000 insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s. The journals covering his Brazil expedition are missing, as are his diaries relating to his later travels. His field note books, detailing his plant collections, survive at Kew, and from those the latter part of his trip can be reconstructed.
His extensive African collections included plants, animal skins, skeletons, insects, seeds, bulbs and fish. After his death by suicide, the bulk of his plant specimens went to Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
and the insects to Oxford University Museum. He is known for the copious and accurate notes he made to accompany every collected specimen, detailing habit and habitat, as well as the numerous drawings and paintings of landscapes, portraits, costumes, people, animals and plants.
Burchell was closely questioned in 1819 by a select committee of the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
about the suitability of South Africa for emigration, given his experience and knowledge of the country. It was no coincidence that the 1820 Settlers
1820 Settlers
The 1820 Settlers were several groups or parties of white British colonists settled by the British government and the Cape authorities in the South African Eastern Cape in 1820....
followed a year later.
He is commemorated in the monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
plant genus Burchellia
Burchellia
Burchellia is a genus in the family Rubiaceae, native to the Cape floristic region of southernmost Africa. It contains a single species, Burchellia bubalina, commonly named the "wild pomegranate" or wildegranaat...
R. Br., as well as numerous specific names including Burchell's zebra
Plains Zebra
The plains zebra , also known as the common zebra or Burchell's zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. It ranges from the south of Ethiopia through East Africa to as far south as Angola and eastern South Africa...
and Burchell's coucal.
This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Burch. when citing
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
.
External links
- Burchell’s Travels by Bike; 2010 Motorcycle trip along his SA route with pictures.