Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet


Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet of Applegarth FRS FRSE FLS FSA was a Scottish naturalist. He is known for his editing of a long series of natural history books, The Naturalist's Library.

Life and work

Jardine was born on 23 February 1800 at 28 North Hanover Street in Edinburgh, the son of Sir Alexander Jardine, 6th baronet of Applegarth and his wife, Jane Maule. He was educated in both York and Edinburgh then studied medicine at Edinburgh University.
From 1817 to 1821 he lodged with Rev Dr Andrew Grant at James Square, an arrangement made by his father. Grant was minister of St Andrew's Church on George Street.
In his early years, aged only 25, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Sir David Brewster.
He was a co-founder of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, and contributed to the founding of the Ray Society. He was "keenly addicted to field-sports, and a master equally of the rod and the gun". While ornithology was his main passion, he also studied ichthyology, botany and geology. His book on fossil burrows and traces, the Ichnology of Annandale, included fossils from his ancestral estate. He was the first to coin the term ichnology, and this was the first book written on the subject. His private natural history museum and library are said to have been the finest in Britain.
Jardine made natural history available to all levels of Victorian society by editing the hugely popular forty volumes of The Naturalist's Library issued and published by his brother in law, the Edinburgh printer and engraver, William Home Lizars. The series was divided into four main sections: Ornithology, Mammalia, Entomology, and Ichthyology ; each prepared by a leading naturalist. James Duncan wrote the insect volumes. The artists responsible for the illustrations included Edward Lear. The work was published in Edinburgh by W. H. Lizars. The frontispiece is a portrait of Pierre André Latreille.
His other publications included an edition of Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne which re-established White's reputation, Illustrations of Ornithology, and an affordable edition of Alexander Wilson's Birds of America.
Jardine described of a number of bird species, alone or in conjunction with his friend Prideaux John Selby. He died on 21 November 1874 in Sandown, Isle of Wight.

Family and descendants

He was married to Jane Home Lizars, and through her was brother-in-law to John Lizars FRSE and William Home Lizars.
After Lady Jardine's death he married the daughter of the Rev. William Samuel Symonds, the well-known geologist.
Jardine's daughter, Catherine Dorcas Maule Jardine, married Hugh Edwin Strickland and produced many of the illustrations for Illustrations of Ornithology.
The Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent is a direct descendant of Jardine.

The Naturalist's Library

Jardine edited the series of books that were published a part of The Naturalist's Library, and include :
  1. 1833,, by Jardine with a memoir of Carl Linnaeus
  2. 1833,, by Jardine with a memoir of Comte de Buffon
  3. 1833,, by Robert Hamilton with a memoir of Alexander von Humboldt
  4. undated,, by Jardine with a memoir of Thomas Pennant
  5. 1834,, by Jardine with a memoir of Georges Cuvier
  6. 1834,, by Jardine with a memoir of Aristotle
  7. 1835,, by Jardine with a memoir of Joseph Banks
  8. 1835,, by James Duncan with a memoir of Abraham Gottlob Werner
  9. 1836,, by Prideaux J. Selby with plates by Edward Lear and a memoir of Thomas Bewick
  10. 1836,, by Jardine with a memoir of Hans Sloane
  11. 1836,, by James Duncan with a memoir of Maria Sibylla Merian
  12. 1837,, by Jardine with a memoir of Bernard Germain de Lacépède
  13. 1837,, by James Duncan with a memoir of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
  14. 1837,, by William Swainson with a memoir of François Levaillant
  15. 1838,, by Jardine with a memoir of Robert Sibbald
  16. 1838,, by William Swainson with a memoir of Albrecht von Haller
  17. 1838,, by William MacGillivray with a memoir of Ulisse Aldrovandi
  18. 1839,, by Robert Hamilton with a memoir of François Péron
  19. 1839,, by Chas. Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Peter Simon Pallas
  20. 1840,, by Chas. Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Félix de Azara
  21. 1840,, by James Duncan with memoirs of Jan Swammerdam and Charles De Geer
  22. 1841,, by G. R. Waterhouse with a memoir of John Barclay
  23. 1841,, by Chas. Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Conrad Gessner
  24. 1841,, by Robert H. Schomburgk
  25. 1841,, by James Duncan with a memoir of Pierre André Latreille
  26. 1842,, by Jardine with a memoir of John Walker
  27. 1842,, by Charles Hamilton Smith with a memoir of Dru Drury
  28. 1843,, by J. S. Bushnan with a memoir of Hippolito Salviani
  29. 1843,, by Robert H. Schomburgk with a memoir of Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
  30. 1844,, by Jardine with a memoir of Stamford Raffles
  31. 1852,, by James Duncan with a memoir of John Ray
  32. undated,, by Prideaux John Selby with a memoir of Pliny the Elder
  33. 1859,, by Jardine with a memoir of François Huber
  34. 1860,, by Robert Hamilton with a memoir of Guillaume Rondelet
  35. 1860,, by Jardine with a memoir of Alexander Wilson
  36. 1862,, by W. Swainson with a memoir of James Bruce
  37. 1864,, by Jardine with a memoir of Francis Willughby
  38. 1866,, by Jardine with a memoir of Petrus Camper
  39. 1866,, by Jardine with a memoir of John Hunter
  40. 1866,, by Prideaux John Selby with a memoir of Thomas Bewick
  41. 1866,, by Jardine with a memoir of William Smellie
Later supplements include the following titles: The Natural History of Man, Humming Birds Volume 3 and a single volume that collated the memoirs of "great naturalists".