William Robert Ogilvie-Grant

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Scottish English William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (25 March 1863 – 26 July 1924) was a Scottish ornithologist.

Early life and education

Illustrated of Himalayan monal by William Robert Ogilvie-Grant

Grant was born on 25 March 1863 as the second son of Capt. the Hon. George Henry Essex Ogilvy-Grant, of Easter Elchies, Craigellachie, Scotland, of the 42nd Highlanders, sixth son of Francis Ogilvy-Grant, 6th Earl of Seafield,<ref>Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 146th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, David Williamson, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2000, p. 1494</ref> and daughter of Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 2nd Baronet. Ogilvie-Grant was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, where he studied zoology and anatomy.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also studied at Cargilfield Preparatory School. <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

In 1882 he became an Assistant at the Natural History Museum. He studied ichthyology under Albert C. L. G. Günther, and in 1885 he was put in temporary charge of the Ornithological Section under Richard Bowdler Sharpe's<ref name=":0" /> visit to India. He remained in that department, eventually becoming Curator of Birds from 1909 to 1918.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

He also succeeded Bowdler Sharpe as editor of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, a post he held from 1904 to 1914.

Ogilvie-Grant initiated the first of the British Museum Ruwenzori expeditions which took place in 1905-1906.<ref name=1906TZL>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also made many collecting trips himself, especially to Socotra, Madeira, and the Canary Islands.

Taxon described by him

• See Category:Taxa named by William Robert Ogilvie-Grant

Taxon named in his honor

• Ogilvie-Grant is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of gecko, Hemidactylus granti, which is endemic to Socotra.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. Template:ISBN. ("Grant, W.R.O.", p. 106).</ref>

• The Banso double-spurred francolin bird Pternistis bicalcaratus Ogilvygranti (Bannerman 1922) is named after him.

Personal life

Ogilvie-Grant married Maud Louisa, daughter of Admiral Mark Robert Pechell; they had a son and three daughters. His son Mark Ogilvie-Grant was a diplomat and botanist.

Source

• Mullens and Swann - A Bibliography of British Ornithology.