George Edwards (naturalist)

George Edwards FRS
Engraving by John Miller after a portrait painted in 1754 by Bartholomew Dandridge
Born	(1694-04-03)3 April 1694 West Ham, Essex, England
Died	23 July 1773(1773-07-23) (aged 79) Plaistow, Essex, England
Known for	Natural history writings and illustrations, A Natural History of Uncommon Birds
Awards	Copley Medal of the Royal Society
Scientific career
Fields	Naturalist, ornithologist
Institutions	Royal College of Physicians

George Edwards FRS (3 April 1694 – 23 July 1773) was an English naturalist and ornithologist, known as the "father of British ornithology".^[1]

Edwards was born at West Ham, then in the county of Essex. In his early years, he travelled extensively through mainland Europe, studying natural history, and gained a reputation for his coloured drawings of animals, especially birds. He was appointed as beadle to the Royal College of Physicians in 1733.^[2]

Over a period of 21 years, Edwards published seven volumes containing descriptions and hand-coloured etchings of birds. In a few cases, he depicted other animals. None of the species were native to the British Isles. The first four volumes were published between 1743 and 1751 with the title A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. The three subsequent volumes were published between 1758 and 1764 with the title Gleanings Of Natural History. The volumes contain a total of 362 hand-coloured etchings of which 317 depict birds. The etchings were all drawn by Edwards. He numbered the plates consecutively through the seven volumes.

When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition in 1758, he listed a binomial name for every plant and animal. For many of the birds he cited the description and illustration in A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Later, when he updated the Systema Naturae for the 12th edition in 1766, he cited the Gleanings of Natural History.

Edwards was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1757. He never married and died aged 79 in 1773 in Plaistow, Essex.