Laporte, François Louis (1810 - 1880)

Summary

François Laporte was born in England and studied natural science in France. He worked as a diplomat in many of the French colonies and was appointed Consul-General for France in Melbourne (1864). He was an avid explorer and collector who travelled to the USA, Canada, South America, South Africa and Asia before arriving in Australia. He studied mainly insects and fish and many of his collected specimens are housed at the National Museum in Melbourne. He was an active member of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria and of the Entomological Society of New South Wales. The genus Laportea (tropical stinging tree) was named after him, as were many insects and fishes.

Details

Laporte was known by many pseudonyms including the all-encompassing François Louis Nompar de Caumont La Port Comte de Castelnau which is believed to be the name on his death certificate. He wrote over ninety books and articles in total under the names of Laporte, Delaporte and Castelnau.

Chronology

1837 - 1841

Career position - Led a French scientific expedition to study the lakes of Canada, US and Mexico

1843 - 1847

Career position - Expedition from Rio de Janeiro to Lima to collect specimens from the Amazon River. It was the first to cross South America from Peru to Brazil, following the watershed between the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata systems and collecting specimens

1848 - 1856?

Career position - French consul at Bahia, Brazil

1856 - 1858

Career position - Expedition to South Africa and Asia

1862

Life event - Arrived in Australia (Melbourne)

1864 -

Career position - Consul-General for France, Melbourne

1876

Career position - Visits to Sydney and Brisbane

Related entries

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Edward Pearson Ramsay - Records, 1860 - 1912, ML MSS 563; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Books

• Musgrave, A., Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930: with biographical notes on authors and collectors (Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1932), 380 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Whitley, G. P., 'Laporte, Francois Louis Nompar De Caumont, Comte De Castelnau (1810-1880), naturalist and diplomat' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 5: 1851 - 1890 K-Q, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1974), pp. 64-65. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/laporte-francois-louis-nompar-de-caumont-3993. Details

Journal Articles

• Castelnau, Count F. de, 'Notes on the fishes of the Norman River', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 3 (1878), 41-51. Details
• Castelnau, Count F. de, 'Australian fishes: new or little known species', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 2 (1878), 225-48. Details
• Castelnau, le Comte de and Ramsay, E. P., 'Notes of a collection of birds from the Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria, with descriptions of some new species', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 1 (1877), 379-95. Details
• Gill, A. C., Russell, B. C. and Nelson, G., 'F. L. de Castelnau's Norman River fishes housed in the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney', Zootaxa, 4459 (3) (2018), 565-74. Details
• Whitley, G. P., 'Francois Laporte, Count Castelnau, 1810-1880 [includes bibliography of writings]', Australian Zoologist, 13 (2) (1965), 93-102. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/en/viaf/19775535. Details
• Wikidata, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q741590. Details

See also

• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/smv.html. Details