SCLATER - Philip Lutley - British Association Member - 1884
Philip Lutley Sclater (1829-1913), born in Hampshire, England, was a lawyer, but primarily a zoologist, and served over 30 years as secretary of the Zoological Society of London.
He attended the British Association meeting in Montreal in August 1884 and joined the many excursionists that visited the Bell Farm on Sept. 14, 1884. The Sept. 17, 1884 “Montreal Gazette” stated: “Although only a limited number took this special trip, the CPR have kindly offered during the present month to convey members of the British Association free to the end of their line, in order that they may have an opportunity of seeing the country.” The "limited number" for this excursion was made up of 100 gentlemen. Some were accompanied by wives and children - their names were not included on the list published by the Gazette.
“A Prince in the realm of Zoological Science has fallen…” That beginning to a 12 page eulogy likely indicates how well Philip Sclater was revered by his colleagues. Such esteem has not been attributed to anyone else in the course of this Bell Farm research. Elsewhere, his ornithological research is described as “brilliant”. The Bell Farm received many visitors between 1882 and 1895, but no records have yet been found to indicate that anyone other than Philip Sclater was deemed to be “brilliant”.
Sclater joined the British Association in 1847 and became its president in 1875. He first visited North America in 1856; then not again until the Montreal meeting in 1884. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1861, he became an active or associate member of many scientific societies, and publish extensively.
Philip Sclater married Jane Hunter-Blair in 1862 and they raised five children. He died in 1913 at age 84.
SOURCES:
Wikipedia biography - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sclater
Sclater attended the BA Montreal meeting - https://www.jstor.org/stable/1623418?seq=5#metadata_info_tab_contents
Obituary and biography for Sclater - “The AUK: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology, Jan, 1914 , p. 1-12 - https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v031n01/p0001-p0012.pdf
“The Published Writings of Philip Lutley Sclater, 1844-1896 “, by G. Brown Goode, 1896, p. ix – xix - https://archive.org/details/publishedwriting00good/page/n21/mode/2up
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan