Saville-Kent, William (1845 - 1908)

Summary

William Saville-Kent was the founder of Australian fisheries science. He worked in several aquaria in England, then came to Australia, where he was Commissioner/Inspector of Fisheries for Tasmania, Queensland and Western Australia in turn. Later in life he had a particular interest in pearl oyster culture.

Details

Born William Savill Kent on 10 July 1845. Appears to have adopted the name William Saville-Kent ca 1873. Educated at Kings College, where he qualified to enter the Imperial Civil Service. Held various short-term appointments in England, including the British Museum 1868-72 and several aquaria. Inspector of Tasmanian Fisheries 1884-87; Commissioner of Fisheries for Queensland 1889-92; Commissioner of Fisheries for Western Australia 1892-95. Returned to England for the remainder of his life, though probably spent a good deal of the time between 1896 and 1907 in tropical Australia and adjacent areas engaged in pearl oyster culture. President, Royal Society of Queensland, 1889-90. Died 11 October 1908.

Published resources

Books

• Harrison, A.J., Savant of the Australian Seas: William Saville-Kent (1845-1908) (Hobart: Tasmanian Historical Research Association, 1997), 180 pp. Details
• 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
• Saville, Kent, W., The Great Barrier Reef of Australia : its products and potentialities (London: W.H. Allen, [1893]), 387 pp. Details
• Saville-Kent, W., The naturalist in Australia (London: Chapman & Hall, 1897), 302 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Harrison, A. J., 'William Saville-Kent, 1845-1908' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
• Harrison, A.J., 'Saville-Kent, William (1845-1908), Fisheries Scientist and Author' in Australian dictionary of biography: supplement 1580 - 1980, with a name index to the Australian dictionary of biography to 1980, Christopher Cunneen, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005), pp. 352-353. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/AS10427b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Harrison, A.J., 'William Saville - Kent, FLS, FZS, FRMS (1845-1908)', Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 122 (2) (1988), 165-178. Details
• Harrison, A.J., 'The Fisheries Savant: William Saville-Kent in Victoria 1887-8', Historical Records of Australian Science, 11 (3) (1997), 419-429. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9971130419. Details
• Minard, Peter, 'Valuing the native: River Blackfish vs. Rainbow trout in late nineteenth and early-twentieth century Victoria', Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 15 (2) (2015), 1-11. https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JASAL/article/view/9941/9829. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2726002. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/24090960. Details
• 'Saville-Kent, William (1845-1908)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1468534. Details

Resource Sections

• Harrison, A.J., 'William Saville-Kent (1845-1908)', in Progress in Managing Fisheries in Australia 1800-1990, Harrison, A.J., Anthony Harrison, 2003, http://www.users.on.net/~ahvem/Fisheries/Identities/WSK.html. Details