Walter Buller
{{Short description|New Zealand lawyer and naturalist (1838–1906)}}
{{for|the bridge writer and player|Walter Buller (bridge)}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Sir Walter Buller
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KCMG|size=100%}}
| image = Ethel Mortlock (1878-1928) - Sir Walter Lawry Buller.jpg
| image_caption = Portrait of Buller, {{circa|1903}}
| birth_name = Walter Lawry Buller
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1838|10|9}}
| birth_place = Pakanae, Hokianga, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1906|07|19|1838|10|9}}
| death_place = Fleet, Hampshire, England
| education = Wesley College, Auckland
| fields = Law, ornithology
| known_for = New Zealand ornithology, A History of the Birds of New Zealand
| spouse = Charlotte Mair
| children = Four
| author_abbrev_zoo = Buller
}}
Sir Walter Lawry Buller {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KCMG}} (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer and naturalist who was a dominant figure in New Zealand ornithology. His book, A History of the Birds of New Zealand, first published in 1873, was published as an enlarged version in 1888 and became a New Zealand classic.
Biography
Buller was born at Newark, the Wesleyan mission at Pakanae in the Hokianga, the son of Rev. James Buller, a Cornish missionary who had helped convert the people of Tonga to Methodism. He was educated at Wesley College in Auckland. In 1854, he moved to Wellington with his parents, where he was befriended by the naturalist William Swainson. In 1859 he was made Native Commissioner for the Southern Provinces. In 1871 he travelled to England and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple. Three years later he returned to Wellington and practised law.{{DNZB|last=Galbreath|first=Ross |id=1b46|title=Buller, Walter Lawry – Biography|access-date=23 October 2012}}
In 1862, he married Charlotte Mair at Whangārei. They were to have four children.
Buller was the author of A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1872–1873, 2nd ed. 1887–1888), with illustrations by John Gerrard Keulemans and Henrik Grönvold.{{cite web |title=A History of the birds of New Zealand / by Walter Lawry Buller. 1873 |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/1057025/a-history-of-the-birds-of-new-zealand-by-walter-lawry-buller |website=The Royal Collection Trust |access-date=15 February 2021}} In 1882 he produced the Manual of the Birds of New Zealand as a cheaper popular alternative. In 1905, he published a two-volume Supplement to the History of the Birds of New Zealand, which brought the work up to date.
Buller was appointed Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 1875. In November 1886, he was promoted to Knight Commander.{{London Gazette |issue=25642 |date=9 November 1886 |page=5443 }} Buller helped establish the scientific display in the New Zealand Court at the World's Fair in Paris and was decorated with the Officer of the Legion of Honour by the President of France in November 1889.Brewer, M., 'New Zealand and the Legion d'honneur: Officiers, Commandeurs and Dignites', The Volunteers: The Journal of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, 35(3), March 2010, p.136.'Death of Sir Walter Buller, A noted Ornithologist', Evening Post, 20 July 1906, p.6.
He had several unsuccessful attempts at entering Parliament as a Liberal. He contested the general elections of 1876 ({{NZ electorate link|Manawatu}}; beaten by the incumbent Walter Johnston){{cite news |title=Wellington |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WC18760113.2.11.1 |access-date=30 January 2013 |work=Wanganui Chronicle |volume=XIX |issue=2954 |date=13 January 1876 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=The Manawatu Election |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP18760111.2.11 |access-date=30 January 2013 |work=Evening Post |volume=XIII |issue=8 |date=11 January 1876 |page=2}} and {{NZ election link year|1881}} ({{NZ electorate link|Foxton}}, where he came fourth of six candidates),{{cite news |title=Foxton |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THS18811213.2.9.3 |access-date=31 January 2013 |work=Thames Star |volume=XII |issue=4043 |date=13 December 1881 |page=2}} and the {{By-election link|Te Aroha|1891}} in the {{NZ electorate link|Te Aroha}} electorate (where he was beaten by William Fraser, the official Liberal Party candidate).{{cite news |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THS18910710.2.13 |title=Te Aroha Election |access-date=29 June 2011 |work=Thames Star |page=2 |volume= XXIII| issue= 6930|date= 10 July 1891}}
He emigrated to England and died at Fleet in Hampshire on 19 July 1906.
Wellington playwright Nick Blake authored a play on Buller's life, Dr Buller's Birds, which had its debut at the 2006 NZ International Arts Festival.{{cite web |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/animals/news/article.cfm?c_id=500834&objectid=10369917 |title=Play shows bird man's treachery |date=25 February 2006 |publisher=nzherald.co.nz |access-date=22 October 2010}}
List of honours
- 90px KCMG
- 90px Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (France)
- 90px Officier de la Palmes académiques (France)
Eponyms
Species named after Walter Buller include Thalassarche bulleri (Buller's albatross) and Puffinus bulleri (Buller's shearwater).{{cite book|last1=Buller|first1=Walter|title=A History of the Birds of New Zealand|date=1888|location=London|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BulBird-t1-g1-t2-body-d104.html|access-date=13 November 2014|chapter=Puffinus Bulleri. — (Buller’s Shearwater.)}}
File:Bul01BirdBCover.jpg|Book cover - A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Sir Walter Lawry Buller, Illustrated by J. G. Keulemans, 2nd edition, Published 1888.
File:Bul01BirdP020.jpg|Illustrations of the morepork (left) and the extinct laughing owl (right) by John Gerrard Keulemans in Buller's A History of the Birds of New Zealand. 2nd edition. Published 1888.
File:Bul02BirdP049.jpg|Pachyornis elephantopus ("Heavy-footed Moa")
original caption: Leg of Dinornis elephantopus (front view: three-fourths natural size)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- [http://www.natlib.govt.nz/collections/online-exhibitions/early-explorers-and-collectors/walter-buller New Zealand National Library] Sir Walter lawry Buller
- [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/B/BullerSirWalterLawryNzcKcmgFrs/BullerSirWalterLawryNzcKcmgFrs/en An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060920172605/http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/B/BullerSirWalterLawryNzcKcmgFrs/BullerSirWalterLawryNzcKcmgFrs/en |date=20 September 2006 }} Sir Walter Lawry Buller
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110927151812/http://sites.google.com/site/mmslouisb/buller,newzealand(firstedition) Illustrations from History of the birds of New Zealand (1873 edn.)]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110926232547/http://sites.google.com/site/mmslouisb/buller,newzealand(secondedition,suppleme Illustrations from the Supplement to the second edn. of History of the birds of New Zealand]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buller}}
Category:19th-century New Zealand lawyers
Category:New Zealand ornithologists
Category:People from the Hokianga
Category:New Zealand fellows of the Royal Society
Category:New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour
Category:New Zealand recipients of the Legion of Honour
Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques