Person
Menzies, Archibald (1754 - 1842)
FLS
- Born
- 15 March 1754
Weims, Perthshire, Scotland - Died
- 15 February 1842
Notting Hill, England - Occupation
- Naval officer, Surgeon and Naturalist
Summary
Archibald Menzies was a naturalist and surgeon who, for over 20 years, was a member of the Royal Navy. In 1791 he was appointed naturalist (later also surgeon) in H.M.S. Discovery which sailed under command of George Vancouver on an expedition to survey along the northwest coast of North America. Reaching the southwest of Western Australia in September, the expedition charted the south coast as far as the eastern end of the Archipelago of the Recherche. Vancouver reported on the terrain, fauna, flora and indigenous people that they encountered. Discoveries included King George Sound, and the plants collected by Menzies proved to include some unknown species. During his naval career Menzies amassed a significant collection of extra-European lichen specimens. He is also credited with having introduced to Europe the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria arauacana. After retiring from the Navy in 1802, Menzies established a medical practice in London. Having been elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1790, Menzies continued to be a central figure in British botanical circles for the rest of his life
Details
Chronology
- 1786 - 1789
- Career position - Surgeon, Prince of Wales in north Pacific Ocean
- 1790 - 1842
- Award - Fellow, Linnean Society of London
- 1791 - 1795
- Career position - Naturalist and surgeon, H.M.S. Discovery
- 1796 - 1799
- Career position - Surgeon, Princess Augusta
- 1802
- Life event - Retired from the Royal Navy
- 1802 - 1826
- Career event - In private practice in London
- 1826
- Life event - Retired from medical practice
- 1899
- Education - MD, University of Aberdeen
Related entries
Archival resources
Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science
- Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia
- Archibald Menzies - Records, 1791, LBWA 405A; JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia. Details
Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales
- Archibald Menzies - Records, 1790 - 1794, FM 4/16; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
Powerhouse Museum
- Joseph Banks - Records, 1766 - 1820, ML MSS 2144; Powerhouse Museum. Details
Published resources
Books
- George, Alex S., Australian botanist's companion (Kardinya, W.A.: Four Gables Press, 2009), 671 pp. Details
- McCarthy, J., Monkey Puzzle Man: Archibald Menzies, Plant Hunter (Caithness : Whittles Publisher [and] Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2008), 223 pp. Details
- Williams, Glyn, Naturalists at Sea: Scientific Travellers from Dampier to Darwin (New Haven, Connecticut/London: Yale University Press, 2013), 309 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Balfour, F. R. S., 'Archibald Menzies, 1754 - 1842, botanist, zoologist, medico and explorer', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, 156 (1945), 170-83. Details
- Chan, Chelsea and Demetriades, Andreas K., 'The contributions of James Carmichael Smyth, Archibald Menzies and Robert Jackson to the treatment of typhus in royal naval vessels in the late 18th century', Journal of medical biography, 31 (1) (2023), 4-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967772021994560. Details
- Galloway, D. J., 'The extra-European lichen collections of Archibald Menzies MD, FLS (1754-1842)', Edinburgh Journal of Botany, 52 (2) (1995), 95-139. Details
- Galloway, D. J.; and Groves, E. W., 'Archibald Menzies M.D., F.L.S. (1754-1842), aspects of his life, travels and collections', Archives of Natural History, 14 (1) (1987), 3-43. Details
- Groves, Eric W., 'Archibald Menzies's Visit to King George Sound, Western Australia, September-October 1791', Archives of Natural History, 40 (2013), 139-48. Details
- Hull, G., 'Archibald Menzies (1754 - 1842): a respected surgeon/naturalist', Journal of medical biography, 9 (2001), 226-30. Details
- Keevil, J. J., 'Archibald Menzies 1745 - 1842', Bulletin of the history of medicine, 22 (1948), 796-811. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q633378. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/77126425. Details
- 'Menzies, Archibald', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476126. Details
Reviews
McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 26 May 2026
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education