Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825 - 1895)

Summary

Thomas Huxley was assistant surgeon and naturalist in Australia and surrounding waters from 1846 to 1850 on board H.M.S. Rattlesnake. His fellow naturalist on board was John MacGillivray. Owen Stanley, in command of Rattlesnake, had orders to survey of a safe passage through the Great Barrier Reef in continuation of the work of Francis Blackwood in H.M.S. Fly. Despite lacking adequate facilities, Huxley and MacGillivray made considerable collections of biological specimens. Huxley, who in his later career became renowned for his expertise in comparative morphology, worked on marine invertebrates during the voyage and after returning to London. His pioneering studies, based on these specimens, resulted in papers on the morphology of cephalopods, brachiopods and rotifers, and revolutionised the classification of Medusae and Tunicata. In his later career Huxley played a central role in scientific circles in the United Kingdom. Among the numerous scientific societies of which he was President was the Royal Society. He is perhaps best known as a staunch supporter of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution.

Details

Chronology

December 1846 - 1850

Career position - Assistant surgeon and naturalist, H.M.S. Rattlesnake

1850

Education - Passed first MB examination, University of London

1851 - 1895

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1852

Award - Royal Medal, The Royal Society, London

1854 - 1885

Career position - Professor of Natural History, Royal School of Mines, London

1855 -

Career position - Naturalist, Geological Survey of Great Britain

1855 - 1858

Career position - Fullerian Professor, Royal Institute, London

1865 - 1867

Career position - Hunterian Professor, Royal College of Surgeons, London

1868 - 1870

Career position - President, Geological Society, London

1869 -

Award - Member, American Philosophical Society

1869 - 1870

Career position - President, British Association for the Advancement of Science

1876

Award - Wollaston Medal, Geological Society, London

1878

Career position - President, Queckett Microscopical Society

1880

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

1881 - 1885

Career position - Inspector of Fisheries, United Kingdom

1883 - 1885

Career position - President, Royal Society of London

1884 - 1890

Career position - President. Marine Biological Association

1888

Award - Copley Medal, The Royal Society, London

1890

Award - Linnean Medal, Linnean Society, London

1892 - 1895

Career position - Privy Councillor

1893

Award - Hayden Memorial Geological Award, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, U.S.A.

1894

Award - Darwin Medal, Royal Society of London

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Thomas Henry Huxley - Records, 1851 - 1971, MS 134; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland

• Thomas Henry Huxley - Records, 1847 - 1848, OM82-2; John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland. Details

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

• Linnean Society of London - Records, 1792 - 1870, FM 4/2699; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Thomas Henry Huxley - Records, c. 1953 - c. 1956, A4000; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Thomas Henry Huxley - Records, 1846 - 1850, FM 4/216; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• G. H. Inskip - Records, 1849 - 1950, MS 3784; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• James Thomas Stanton - Records, 1849 - 1951, MS 4029; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• Thomas Henry Huxley - Records, 1825 - 1895, Mfm M876-916; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• William Henry Archer - Records, 1847 - 1866, MS 264; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

National Library of Australia Pictures Collection

• Thomas Henry Huxley - Pictures, 1847, PIC R449 LOC1111; National Library of Australia Pictures Collection. Details
• Thomas Henry Huxley - Pictures, 1946, PIC R449 LOC1112; National Library of Australia Pictures Collection. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• Thomas Henry Huxley - Records, 1825 - 1895, M876-916; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Bashford, Alison, The Huxleys: an intimate history of evolution (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 2022), 576 pp. Details
• Bassett, Marnie, Behind the picture: H.M.S. Rattlesnake's New Guinea cruise, 1846 to 1850 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1966), 112 pp. Details
• Bibby, Cyril, Scientist extraordinary: the life and scientific works of Thomas Henry Huxley, 1825 - 1895 (Oxford: Pergamon, 1972), 208 pp. Details
• Di Gregorio, Mario A., T.H. Huxley's place in natural science (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1984), 253 pp. Details
• Goodman, Jordan, The Rattlesnake: a Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea (London: Faber and Faber, 2005), 357 pp. Details
• Huxley, J., Thomas Henry Huxley's Diary of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (London: 1935). Details
• Huxley, L., Life and letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, 2 vols (London: Macmillan, 1900). Details
• Huxley, T. H., The oceanic Hydrozoa: a description of the Calycophoridae and Physophoridae observed during the voyage of H.M.S. "Rattlesnake", in the years 1846 - 1850 (London: Ray Society, 1859), 143 pp. Details
• Huxley, T. H., Collected essays, 9 vols (London: Mcmillan, 1893-1894). Details
• Huxley, T. H.: edited from the unpublished MS by Julian Huxley, T. H. Huxley's diary of the voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (London: Chatto and Windus, 1935), 371 pp. Details
• Marshall, A. J., Darwin and Huxley in Australia (Sydney: Hodder and Stoughton, 1970), 142 pp. Details
• McCalman, Iain,, Darwin's Armada (Camberwell (Vic.) : Viking, 2009), 422 pp. Details
• McKenna, Mark, From the edge: Australia's lost histories (Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press (University of Melbourne Publishing Ltd), 2016), xx, 251 pp. See pages: 95, 102, 103. Details
• White, Paul, Thomas Huxley: making the "Man of Science" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 222 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Butcher, Barry W., 'Gorilla Warfare in Melbourne: Halford, Huxley and 'Man's Place in Nature'' in Australian Science in the Making, R. W. Home, ed. (Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 153-169. Details
• Mozley, Ann, 'Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895), biologist, anthropologist and philosopher' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1966), pp. 577-578. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010535b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Foster, M.; and Lankester, E. Ray eds, The scientific memoirs of Thomas Henry Huxley, 4 vols (London: MacMillan, 1900-). Details

Journal Articles

• Goodman, Jordan, 'Losing it in New Guinea: the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake', Endeavour, 29 (2005), 60-5. Details
• Huxley, T. H., 'On the anatomy and affinities of the family Medusae', Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society, 139 (1849), 413-34. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1849.0022. Details
• Huxley, T. H., 'Joseph Beete Jukes', Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London, 26 (1870), xxxii-xxxiv. Details
• Murray, Tim, 'Mr Miles, Mr Oldfield and Professor Huxley: early thoughts on the origins of the Australians', Bulletin of the history of archaeology, 33 (1) (2023), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/bha-671. Details
• Murray, Tim, 'Mr Miles, Mr Oldfield and Professor Huxley: early thoughts on the origins of the Australians', Bulletin of the history of archaeology, 33 (1) (2023), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/bha-671. Details
• White, Paul, 'Science at Home: the Space between Henrietta Heathorn and Thomas Huxley', History of Science, 34 (1) (1996), 33-56. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/66511085. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q184366. Details
• 'Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-869246. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Huxley, Thomas Henry - Ms 134', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms134.html. Details

Reviews

• Bashford, Alison, The Huxleys: an intimate history of evolution (2022)
  Rose, Edwin D., Isis, 115 (3), (2024), 676-7. Details

Theses

• Jensen, Sophie Alice, 'On such a full sea: John MacGillivray (1821 - 1867)', PhD thesis, Australian National University, 2010, 339 pp. Details

See also

• Bowen, James; Bowen, Margarita, The Great Barrier Reef: History, Science, Heritage (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 454 pp. Details
• Bowler, Jim, 'Unlikely encounters: Geology and archaeology' in Dhoombak goobgoowana: a history of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne - Volume 1: The Truth, Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2024), pp. 107-124, https://www.mup.com.au/books/dhoombak-goobgoowana-paperback-softback. Details
• Lubbock, Adelaide, Owen Stanley, R.N., 1811 - 1850, captain of the Rattlesnake (Melbourne: London: Heinemann, 1968), 298 pp. Details
• Pybus, Cassandra, A very secret trade: the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2024), 318 pp. https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Cassandra-Pybus-Very-Secret-Trade-9781761066344. Pages 20, 63, 125, 195, 196, 248. Details
• Turnbull, Paul, 'Australian museums, Aboriginal skeletal remains, and the imagining of human evolutionary history', Museum & society, 13 (1) (2015), 72-87. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v13i1.318. Pages 75. Details
• West, Francis, 'Stanley, Owen (1811-1850), naval officer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 2: 1788 - 1850 I-Z, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967), pp. 470-471. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020436b.htm. Details