John White (surgeon)

{{Short description|English surgeon and botanical collector (1756–1832)}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = John White

|birth_date = c.1756

|birth_place = Drumaran, Belcoo, County Fermanagh

|death_date = 20 February 1832

|death_place = Worthing

|image = John White, surgeon, (c. 1756 – 20 February 1832).jpg

|residence =

|citizenship = Kingdom of Ireland and,

later, British

|nationality = Irish

|ethnicity =

|field = surgeon, zoologist, botanist

|work_institutions = Royal Navy

|alma_mater =

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for =

|author_abbrev_bot = J. White

|author_abbrev_zoo = White

|influences =

|influenced =

|prizes =

|religion =

|footnotes =

|signature =

}}

John White (c. 1756 – 20 February 1832) was an Irish surgeon and botanical collector. __NOTOC__

Biography

White was born in the townland of Drumaran, near Belcoo, in County Fermanagh in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland, about 1756,{{cite journal | author = Nelson E.C. | year = 1998 | title = John White A. M., M. D., F. L. S. (c.1756–1832), Surgeon-General of New South Wales: a new biography of the messenger of the echidna and the waratah | doi = 10.3366/anh.1998.25.2.149 | journal = Archives of Natural History | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | pages = 149–212 }}Nelson, E. C. (1986), "The first Ulsterman in Botany Bay, Surgeon-General John White', The Linen Hall review 3 (2): 8–9{{cite journal | author = Nelson E.C. | year = 1987 | title = From the banks of Erne to Botany Bay: John White (c.1756–1832), Surgeon-General of New South Wales | journal = Familia | volume = 2 | issue = 3| pages = 73–82 }}{{cite journal | author = Nelson E.C. | year = 1988 | title = 'John White (c.1756–1832), surgeon-general of New South Wales: biographical notes on his Irish origins | journal = Irish Historical Studies | volume = 25 | issue = 100| pages = 405–412 | doi = 10.1017/S0021121400025074 | pmid = 11617226 | s2cid = 34987163 }} and not, as stated in the Dictionary of Australian Biography{{cite web |url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogWe-Wy.html#white3 |title=White, John |access-date=16 September 2007 |author=Percival Serle |author-link=Percival Serle |work=Dictionary of Australian Biography |publisher=Angus & Robertson |year=1949}} and the Australian Dictionary of Biography,{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Rienits |first= Rex |author-link= Rex Rienits |year= 1967 |volume=2 |id2=white-john-2787 |title= White, John (1756–1832) |access-date= 7 March 2015 }} in Sussex, England. On 18 June 1778 John White qualified as a surgeon's mate, first rate, following examination at the Company of Surgeons in London. He entered the Royal Navy on 26 June 1778 as surgeon's mate aboard {{HMS|Wasp|1749|6}}. He was promoted surgeon in 1780, serving aboard {{HMS|Irresistible|1782|6}} until 1786 when Sir Andrew Hamond recommended him as principal naval surgeon for the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia.Correspondence, Sir A.S. Hamond to Under Secretary Charles Nepean,16 October 1786. Cited in Britton (ed.), p.24

In March 1787 White joined the First Fleet at Plymouth as surgeon for the convict transport Charlotte, where he found that the convicts had been living for some time on salt meat, a bad preparation for a long voyage. He succeeded in obtaining supplies of fresh meat and vegetables for them, and arranged that they should be allowed up on deck in relays to obtain fresh air. On arrival in Australia, White engaged one of the convicts, Thomas Barrett, to engrave a silver medallion to mark the occasion.{{cite news| last =Barlass |first =Tim |title =Damaged First Fleet copper medal to fetch pretty penny | work =Sun Herald | page =20 | date =16 November 2013 }} The medallion, or "Charlotte Medal", is displayed in Australia's National Maritime Museum.

In 1788 White was appointed Surgeon-General of New South Wales and organised a hospital for the new colony, somewhat hampered by a lack of medical supplies. He became interested in the native flora and fauna of the new land and investigated the potential of Australian plants for use as medicine. He observed the olfactory qualities of eucalyptus and distilled eucalyptus oil in 1788.

White wrote A Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (1790),{{cite journal | last = Nelson | first =E. Charles | year = 1998 | title = John White's Journal of a voyage to new South Wales (London 1790) bibliographic notes | doi = 10.3366/anh.1998.25.1.109 | journal = Archives of Natural History | volume = 25 | pages = 109–130 }} which described many Australian species for the first time.{{cite journal | last=Bauer | first=Aaron Matthew | year=1999 | title=Notes on John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (1790), a Classic of Australian Herpetology | journal=International Society for the History and Bibliography of Herpetology Newsletter and Bulletin | volume=1 | issue=1 | pages=16–19 | url=http://t-ad.net/ishbh/ISHBH_1(1).pdf | access-date=5 May 2019 | archive-date=14 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714003058/http://www.t-ad.net/ishbh/ISHBH_1(1).pdf | url-status=dead }} Journal had 65 copper-plate engravings of birds, animals and plants, many of which were based on the water colour paintings of Sarah Stone,{{cite journal | author = Piggot L.J. | year = 2000 | title = John White's Journal of a voyage to new South Wales (1790) comments on the natural history and the artistic origins of the plates | doi = 10.3366/anh.2000.27.2.157 | journal = Archives of Natural History | volume = 27 | issue = 2 | pages = 157–174 }}{{cite thesis |last=Dickson|first=Nicola Jan|year=2010 |title=Wonderlust: the influence of natural history illustration and ornamentation on perceptions of the exotic in Australia |type=Doctor of Philosophy |publisher=Australian National University |url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/7160/2/02dissertation.pdf |access-date=12 November 2015}} and during the next five years was translated into German and French. It is believed (by his unnamed biographer) that Thomas William Parr was employed as a sketch artist by White to produce natural history drawings as a starting point for development and colouring by other artists.{{cite web |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/thomas-william-parr/biography/ |title=Parr, Thomas William |author= |website=Trove |publisher=Design and Art Australia Online |access-date=19 Oct 2019 }} White was the first to describe Litoria caerulea, a species of frog endemic to Australia and New Guinea, which has several common names, including "White's tree frog". In 1792, Thomas Watling a convict artist newly arrived to the colony was appointed by the government to assist John White in the production of copies of illustrations of various plants, insects and animals. A portrait of John White, a miniature on ivory, signed by Thomas Watling and dated "N.S.Wales 1792" is in the National Museum of Australia.https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/trevor-kennedy/watling-portrait-white

According to his journal, White severely disliked Australia, describing it as: "a country and place so forbidding and so hateful as only to merit execration and curses." He applied for leave of absence in 1792, and received it in 1794, sailing for England on 17 December 1794 and later travelled to Ireland. In 1796 he resigned his position when given the option of returning to Australia. Earlier in 1796, White was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and on 10 March 1797, the Senate of the University of St Andrews conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine on him. White was a surgeon on HMS Royal William, and for 20 years he was stationed first at Sheerness from 1799 and then at Chatham Dockyard from 1803. He retired on a half pension in 1820, and died in Worthing, England in 1832.{{cite journal | author = Nelson E.C. | year = 1998 | title = John White A. M., M. D., F. L. S. (c.1756–1832), Surgeon-General of New South Wales: a new biography of the messenger of the echidna and the waratah | journal = Archives of Natural History | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | pages = 149–212 | doi=10.3366/anh.1998.25.2.149}}

Legacy

Sydney's White Bay is named in his honour.{{NSW GNR|id = SXckoeWAan|title = White Bay|access-date = 12 October 2013}}

John White is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, Egernia whitii.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("White, J.", p. 284).

John White (surgeon)

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading