Thomas Pennant - Citizendia

Thomas Pennant (June 14 O.S., 1726 - December 16, 1798) was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Year 1726 ( MDCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion Year 1798 ( MDCCXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods An antiquarian or antiquary is one concerned with Antiquities or things of the past

The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century. Whitford (Chwitffordd is a Village near Holywell in Flintshire, northeast Wales. In 1724 Thomas' father, David Pennant, also inherited the neighbouring Downing estate from a cousin, considerably augmenting the family's fortune. Downing Hall, where Thomas was born in the 'yellow room', became the main Pennant residence.

Pennant received his early education at Wrexham grammar school, before moving to Thomas Croft's school in Fulham in 1740. Wrexham (Wrecsam is a town and principal area in Wales. It is the largest town in North Wales and lies to the east of the region Fulham (pronounced "fullum" is an area of south-west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, (the successor to the Metropolitan Borough of Fulham In 1744 entered Queen's College, Oxford, later moving to Oriel College. The Queen's College, founded 1341 is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Oriel College, located in Oriel Square, Oxford, is the fifth oldest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England Like many students from a wealthy background, he left Oxford without taking a degree, although in 1771 his work as a zoologist was recognised with an honorary degree.

At the age of twelve, Pennant later recalled, he had been inspired with a passion for natural history through being presented with Francis Willughby's Ornithology. Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods Francis Willughby ( November 22, 1635 – July 3, 1672) was an English ornithologist and ichthyologist. A tour in Cornwall in 1746-1747, where he met the antiquary and naturalist William Borlase, awakened an interest in minerals and fossils which formed his main scientific study during the 1750s. Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar William Borlase ( February 2, 1695 - August 31, 1772) English Antiquary and naturalist, was born at A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition a highly ordered atomic structure and specific FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. In 1750, his account of an earthquake at Downing was inserted in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, where there also appeared in 1756 a paper on several coralloid bodies he had collected at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 Corals are Marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small Sea anemone –like Polyps typically in colonies of many Coalbrookdale is a side valley of the Ironbridge Gorge in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England Shropshire (ˈʃrɒpʃɪə/ /-ʃə alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated in print only Shrops, is a county in the More practically, Pennant used his geological knowledge to open a lead mine, which helped to finance improvements at Downing after he inherited in 1763. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly

In 1757, at the instance of Carolus Linnaeus, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Society of Sciences. Carl Linnaeus (Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as, May 23 new style (13 May old style 1707 who laid the foundations for The Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala ( Swedish Kungl Vetenskapssocieteten i Uppsala) is the oldest of the royal academies in Sweden and In 1766 he published the first part of his British Zoology, a work meritorious rather as a laborious compilation than as an original contribution to science. During its progress he visited the continent and made the acquaintance of Buffon, Voltaire, Haller and Pallas. Georges-Louis Leclerc fr Comte de Buffon ( September 7, 1707 April 16, 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician biologist François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French Albrecht von Haller ( October 16, 1708 &ndash December 12, 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, Physiologist, Naturalist Peter Simon Pallas ( September 22, 1741, Berlin — September 8, 1811, Berlin) was a German Zoologist

Elephant and bison. From the History of Quadrupeds (1793).

In 1767 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 In 1771 his Synopsis of Quadrupeds was published; it was later expanded into a History of Quadrupeds. At the end of the same year he published A Tour in Scotland in 1769, which proved remarkably popular and was followed in 1774 by an account of another journey in Scotland, in two volumes. These works have proved invaluable as preserving the record of important antiquarian relics which have now perished. In 1778 he brought out a similar Tour in Wales, which was followed by a Journey to Snowdon (part one in 1781; part two in 1783), afterwards forming the second volume of the Tour.

In 1782 he published a Journey from Chester to London. He brought out Arctic Zoology in 1785-1787. In 1790 appeared his Account of London, which went through a large number of editions, and three years later he published the autobiographical Literary Life of the late T. Pennant. In his later years he was engaged on a work entitled Outlines of the Globe, volumes one and two of which appeared in 1798, and volumes three and four, edited by his son David Pennant, in 1800. He was also the author of a number of minor works, some of which were published posthumously. He died at Downing.

The correspondence he received from Gilbert White was the basis for White's book The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. This article is about the 18th-century English naturalist For the 20th-century American geographer see Gilbert F Unfortunately Pennant's letters to White have been lost.

Pennant's exploration of Western Isles of Scotland was revisited by Nicholas Crane in a television documentary programme first broadcast on BBC Two on 16 August 2007, as part of the "Great British Journeys" series. Nicholas Crane (born 1954 Hastings) is a British explorer writer and broadcaster

See also