Alfred William Alcock

Alfred William Alcock ( born June 23, 1859 in Bombay, † March 24, 1933 in Belvedere, Kent ) was a British naturalist and crustacean researcher. He was the son of Captain John Alcock, who spent his retirement in Blackheath. His mother was a daughter of Christopher Puddicombe.

Life and career

Alcock visited the Mill Hill School in London, the Blackheath Proprietary School and Westminster School. When his father in 1876 to attend school due to financial losses could no longer promote, he was taken out of school and sent to India in the Wayanad district. There he stayed with relatives who operated a coffee plantation. At the age of 17, he spent his leisure time often in the virgin forests of Malabar. As the business collapsed with coffee in the area, Alfred went to Calcutta to take up there to take a desk job. After the closure of the office he went from 1878 to 1880 according to Purulia to work as a recruiter for load support for the tea gardens of Assam. There he became acquainted with Duncan Cameron, who gave him the book Physiology Primer by Michael Forster. In this book Alcock wrote personal notes and autobiographical thoughts. It can be seen that this book awakened his love for science, ie represented the origin of his career.

In Purulia he learned as JJ Wood know, who was the commissioner of Hygiene there at the time. Wood urged him to study botany, natural history and chemistry. During this time Alcock even dug from graves in order to study the human body and bones. He also read important works by Charles Darwin. After that, he was determined to pursue science careers and to graduate.

In 1880 he took a job as an assistant manager in a European boy school in Darjeeling. Here Wood trusted his son to the guardianship Alcock. 1881 came Alcocks older sister with her husband, a distinguished officer of the Indian Civil Service, to India. At the time Alcock was able to travel home to begin his medical training there can. in October 1881 he enrolled in the " Marischal College ". The first year in Alleyne Nicholson's course on natural history, he graduated with honors. Although not yet fully formed, he served as a hospital surgeon in the " Aberdeen Royal Hospital ". In 1885 he completed his studies with ceremony and joined the Indian Health Service.

1886 Alcock returned back to India and served on the northwest border with Sikh and Punjab regiments. In Baluchistan he had to contend with a bite of Commons sand race Lotter. In 1888 he was offered as a surgeon and naturalist in the Indian Navy reconnaissance the place. He accepted and came to the scout ship " Investigator ", where he remained until 1892. There he studied the fauna of the sea and has published many writings, along with James Wood - Mason and others. He also wrote A Naturalist in Indian Seas, which is now regarded as a classic of natural science.

In 1892 he retired from the service and was commissioner for hygiene in eastern Bengal. 1893 Wood - Mason went home and Alcock agreed to take his place during his absence. Wood - Mason died on his way home to England and Alcock was appointed head of the Indian Museum. 1895/96 he was on the Boundary Commission in Pamis and wrote the Natural History results of his expedition. In the Indian Museum Alcock worked to complete the collection of reptiles, fish and invertebrates. From Sir George King, president of the trustees, Alcock learned little support. Lord Curzon decided the collection of the Indian Museum as a memorial to Queen Victoria issued in 1903, Alcock was instructed to abandon the collection of fish. Alcock objected to the trustee dealer. Then, the collection was kept, but the library was abandoned. After this experience Alcock resigned from his job in 1906 and traveled back to England, where he pointed out how " impracticable for the position of Director of the Museum " was. He also wrote that the zoology is a division that is so important for the human interests, important for areas such as education, agriculture, veterinary medicine and public health in general. He suggested the introduction of a Zoological Indian Supervisory Authority before, with a museum and laboratories, managed by zoologists, acting out of scientific interest.

He was offered to carry out reforms and he should resume his old place, where he was withdrawing his resignation, but declined Alcock and went to London, where his acquaintance with Patrick Mason made ​​, which he had known as a student. He then worked at the " School of Tropical Medicine".

In 1897 he had married Margaret Forbes Cornwall from Aberdeen. In 1901 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1907 he received the Barclay Medal of the " Asiatic Society of Bengal".

Services

Alcock was primarily a taxonomist and described numerous species. He worked on different areas of the biology and physiology of the fish, their occurrence, evolution and behavior. In addition, he still did research on decapods and deep-sea corals. His " Illustrations of the Zoology of the RIMS ' Investigator, ' " a series of drawings Indian artists are considered exceptionally beautiful and accurate. In addition Alcock wrote his works in a high Victorian style of writing, which is attributed to a good education. The following species bear his name:

  • Bathynemertes alcocki Laidlaw, 1906
  • Sabellaria alcocki
  • Aristeus alcocki Ramadan, 1938
  • Pasiphaea alcocki (Wood - Mason & Alcock, 1891).
Mumbai Blackheath (London)
47997
de