John Thomas Pearson (22 August 1801 – 5 March 1851) was a British surgeon who worked in the East India Company in India. He was also briefly the curator of the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
John Thomas Pearson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 August 1801 |
| Died | 5 March 1851 (aged 49) Barrackpore, West Bengal, India |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Spouse |
Frances Fitzpatrick (m. 1827) |
Pearson received his MRCS in 1825 and became an assistant surgeon in Bengal in 1826 and rose to the rank of surgeon in 1841.[1] While in Darjeeling, he took a keen interest in the local zoology, sending specimens to England for identification. Belomys pearsonii was named after him by his friend from medical student days, J. E. Gray, in 1842.[2] Rhinolophus pearsonii was named after him by Horsfield in 1851.[citation needed]
Pearson was made curator of the Asiatic Society in July 1833 and held the position until 1835 as a favour to James Prinsep. During this period he described the hispid hare and a new species of kingfisher, Pelargopsis amauroptera.[3] This was a period of flux at the Asiatic Society of Bengal and there were complaints from a Dr William Jameson that Pearson had not maintained the museum in order.[4]
He married Frances Fitzpatrick in Calcutta on 7 March 1827.[5] He died at Barrackpur.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b Crawford, D.G. (1930). Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1615-1930. Volume I. London: W. Thacker & Co. p. 91.
- ^ Gray, J.E. (1842). "Descriptions of some new genera and fifty unrecorded species of Mammalia". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology. 10: 255–267.
- ^ Pearson, J. T. (1841). "Catalogue of the birds in the museum of the Asiatic Society". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 10 (2): 628–660.
- Pearson, J. T. (1839). "Observations on the "Report on the museum of the Asiatic Society, by Dr. Wm. Jameson," published in the Journal for March, 1839". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 8: 419–429. - ^ Jameson, William (1839). "Report on the Museum of the Asiatic Society". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 8: 241–244.
- ^ The Quarterly Oriental Magazine, Review, and Register, part 76, volume 7. Thacker and Company. 1827. p. 55.