Laseron, Charles Francis (1887 - 1959)

Summary

Charles Laseron was a conchologist whose research focused on minute molluscs of New South Wales and tropical Australia. He published on his research from his early years at the Technological Museum, Sydney. Between 1947 and 1956 he wrote revisions of eight orders of New South Wales molluscs, including many new species. His descriptions were based largely on specimens he collected on dredging expeditions and on empty beach shells .His papers were accompanied by his own illustrations. Laseron joined the Museum in 1906 after completing a diploma in geology. He rose to take charge of the geological collections and in 1926 became Officer-in-Charge of the Applied Arts Section. Three years later he left the Museum to establish his own business as an antique dealer and auctioneer. Between 1911 and February 1913 he was biological collector and taxidermist for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, based at Cape Denison. He participated in several sledging parties, including (with Frank Stillwell and John Close) to explore the coastline to the east of the Expedition's huts. Laseron's collection of molluscs in now in the Australian Museum. The gastropod genus Laseronia and numerous species were named after him.

Details

Chronology

1891

Life event - Migrated to Australia with his family

1906 - 1926

Career position - Natural History Collector (later in charge of geological collection), Technological Museum, Sydney

1911

Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus campanulata R.T.Baker & H.G.Sm.

1911

Award - Member, Royal Society of New South Wales

1911 - February 1913

Career position - Taxidermist and biological collector, Cape Denison, Australian Antarctic Expedition

1913

Taxonomy event - Honoured with Eucalyptus x laseronii R.T.Baker

1914 - 1916

Career position - Served with the Australian Imperial Forces

1915

Award - Polar Medal (silver)

1926 - 1929

Career position - Officer-in-Charge, Applied Arts section of the Technological Museum, Sydney

1929 -

Career position - Dealer in antiques, books, coins and stamps, and auctioneer

1951 - 1959

Award - Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

Related entries

Archival resources

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

• Charles Francis Laseron - Records, 1911 - 1914, UMS 466; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Charles Francis Laseron - Records, 1911 - 1914, ML MSS 385; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Charles Francis Laseron - Records, 1914 - 1915, ML MSS 1133; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Powerhouse Museum

• Charles Francis Laseron - Records, 1906 - 1929, MRS 4, 5, 15, 202, 89 ...; Powerhouse Museum. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Books

• Laseron, C. F., South with Mawson. Reminiscences of the Australasian Expedition 1911-1914 (Sydney: Australasian Publishing Company, 1947), 223 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Vallance, T. G., 'Laseron, Charles Francis (1887-1959), naturalist and connoisseur' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 675-676. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090677b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Laseron, Charles F., 'Obituary: Sir Douglas Mawson', Australian Journal of Science, 21 (5) (1958), 134-135. Details
• McMichael, D. F., 'Obituary - Charles Francis Laseron', Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, 1 (3) (1959), 3. https://doi.org/10.1080/00852988.1959.10673760. Details
• McMichael, D. F.; and Whitley, G. P., 'A Bibliography of Charles Francis Laseron with an Index to his New Genera and Species', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1958/9 (1961), 114-130. Details
• Quinn, Kylie, 'Mawson's Men', Australian Antarctic Magazine, 22 (2012), 8-12. Details
• Taylor, Griffith, 'Obituary: Charles Francis Laseron', Australian Journal of Science, 22 (3) (1959), 108. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5077778. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/37806315. Details
• 'Laseron, Charles Francis (1887-1959)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-497151. Details

See also

• Beechey, D. L., 'Sydney's Molluscs: from Gentlemen to Malacologists' in The Natural History of Sydney, Lunney, Daniel, Hutchings, Pat A. and Hochuli, Dieter, eds (Mosman, N.S.W.: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 2010), pp. 107-24. Details
• Chester, Jonathan, Going to extremes: Project Blizzard and Australia's Antarctic heritage (Sydney: Auckland: Doubleday Australia, 1986), 308 pp. Details
• Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details