Thomas Edward

Who was Thomas Edward?

Thomas Edward was a Scottish naturalist, born at Gosport. He was trained as a shoemaker and eventually settled in Banff, where he devoted his leisure to the study of animal nature, and collected numerous specimens of animals, which he stuffed and exhibited, but with pecuniary loss; the Queen's attention being called to his case, she settled on him an annual pension of £50, while the citizens of Aberdeen presented him in March 1877 with a gift of 130 sovereigns.

The story of his life and work was recorded in Life of a Scotch Naturalist, Thomas Edward, associate of the Linnean Society, written by Samuel Smiles, illustrated by George Reid and published by John Murray in 1876. His portrait is held in the National Portrait Gallery.