John Thomas Pearson
British surgeon and museum curator / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Thomas Pearson (22 August 1801 – 5 March 1851) was a British surgeon who worked in the East India Company in India. He was also briefly the curator of the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
John Thomas Pearson | |
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Born | (1801-08-22)22 August 1801 |
Died | 5 March 1851(1851-03-05) (aged 49) Barrackpore, West Bengal, India |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Surgeon |
Spouse |
Frances Fitzpatrick (m. 1827) |
Pearson received his MRCS in 1825 and became an assistant surgeon in Bengal in 1826 and rose to the rank of surgeon in 1841.[1] While in Darjeeling, he took a keen interest in the local zoology, sending specimens to England for identification. Belomys pearsonii was named after him by his friend from medical student days, J. E. Gray, in 1842.[2] Rhinolophus pearsonii was named after him by Horsfield in 1851.[citation needed]
Pearson was made curator of the Asiatic Society in July 1833 and held the position until 1835 as a favour to James Prinsep. During this period he described the hispid hare and a new species of kingfisher, Pelargopsis amauroptera.[3] This was a period of flux at the Asiatic Society of Bengal and there were complaints from a Dr William Jameson that Pearson had not maintained the museum in order.[4]
He married Frances Fitzpatrick in Calcutta on 7 March 1827.[5] He died at Barrackpur.[1]