Person

Dendy, Arthur (1865 - 1925)

FRS

Born
20 January 1865
Patrocroft, Lancashire, England
Died
24 March 1925
London, England
Occupation
Zoologist

Summary

Arthur Dendy was a leading expert on sponges (Porifera), based largely on the research he conducted on Australian species. In his early career he worked at the British Museum (Natural History) and on the monaxonid sponges from the Challenger expedition. He moved to Victoria in 1888 to take up a position as Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. During the six years he spent in Australia, Dendy identified and described nearly 2,000 species of marine sponges dredged from Port Philip Heads by J. Bracebridge Wilson during the Port Philip Biological Survey started in 1887 by the Royal Society of Victoria.. Other research was on Victoria's cryptic invertebrate fauna, particularly flatworms. In 26 major papers he described 166 new species. Dendy was an active member of the Royal Society of Victoria, the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria and the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1893 he moved to Canterbury College, Christchurch, New Zealand, later accepting a position as Professor of Biology at the University of Cape Town. From 1905 to 1925 he was Professor of zoology at King's College, London. During his time in Australia and New Zealand Dendy corresponded regularly with the British Museum (Natural History). The sponge genera Dendya and Arturia, and the flatworm Arthurdendyus, were named in his honour.

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Details

Chronology

1887
Education - MSc, Owens College, Victoria University, Manchester, United Kingdom
1888 - 1893
Career position - Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer, University of Melbourne
1891
Career position - President, Section D (Biology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1891
Education - DSc, Owens College, Victoria University, Manchester, United Kingdom
1893 - 1903
Career position - Professor of Biology, Canterbury College, Christchurch, New Zealand
1903 - 1905
Career position - Professor of Biology, University of Cape Town, South Africa
1905 - 1925
Career position - Professor of Zoology, King's College, London
1908 - 1925
Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London
1912 - 1916
Career position - President, Queckett Microscopical Society

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Dendy, Arthur, Calcareous sponges (Sydney: Government Printer, 1918), 19 pp. Details

Book Sections

Journal Articles

  • Dendy, Arthur, 'Preliminary observations on the minute anatomy of an Australian Planarian', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 332, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813422. Details
  • Dendy, Arthur, 'Preliminary notes on the structure and development of a Horny Sponge (Stelospongus flabelliformis). [Topic only]', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 332, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813422. Details
  • Godley, E. J., 'Biographical Notes (31): Arthur Dendy, DSc (Manchester); Hon. Mem. N.Z. Inst.; FLS; FRS (1865 - 1925)', New Zealand Botanical Society newsletter, 53 (September) (1998), 25-7. Details
  • H., S. J., 'Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S.', Nature, 115 (1925), 540-1. https://doi.org/10.1038/115540a0. Details

Resources

See also

  • Carter, H. J., 'Presidential address', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 51 (1927), i-xxix. Details

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 30 January 2024

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