Jo h n Gould was horn a t Lyme, in Dorsetshire, on the 14th of
September, 1804, and when quite an infant his parents went to live
a t Stoke Hill, near Guildford, and it was in this beautiful neighbourhood
th a t the child first imbibed his notions of the beauty of n a tu ra l life.
I n th e year 1818, when th e future great ornithologist was fourteen
years old, his fa th e r received a good appointment in the Royal Gardens
a t Windsor under Mr. J . T. Aiton, and there th e boy assisted his father
in gardening. He always remembered these youthful days in la te r life,
when he would recount how he had picked many a bunch of dandelions
for Queen Charlotte’s dandelion-tea. He had now begun to study birds
in earnest, and he made the acquaintance of many British species for the
first time in the royal domain; while there is no doubt th a t the botanical
knowledge acquired a t this time also stood him in good stead at a later
period. After some years spent a t Windsor, during which time he had
already established a reputation for skilful taxidermy, Gould was sent by
Mr. Aiton to Yorkshire, where he was placed under th e care of Mr. Legge,
gardener a t Sir William Ingleby’s seat a t Ripley Castle, for th e purpose
of studying the higher branches of forcing. He does not, however, seem
to have stayed long in the. north of England ; for in 1827 he was back in
London, and had obtained an appointment at the Zoological Society, which
then had its rooms in B ruton Street. The exact n a ture of his appointment
appears to be doubtful, as Vigors, in the Introduction to the ‘ Century,’
speaks of Gould as “ Superintendent ” of the ornithological collection of
th e Zoological Society, whereas he is elsewhere spoken of as “ C u ra to r”
to the Zoological Society. My friend Mr. Gerrard remembers him in
these early days as a man of singular energy, with a good knowledge of
the a rt of mounting animals, and indeed some of the best taxidermists
in England were working under Gould a t th a t time—such men as Baker,
Gilbert, and others. At th a t time Vigors and Broderip were the moving
spirits of the Zoological Society, th en in its infancy, and from the former
naturalist Gould received great encouragement. Vigors was an Irish
gentleman and a member of Parliament for Co. Mayo. H e was one of
the most active of the early founders of th e Zoological Society, and no t
only described several interesting collections of birds, b u t was th e au th o r
of a “ Classification ” which exercised considerable influence on th e minds
of ornithologists for some years afterwards. H e is also celebrated as
having been th e Editor of th e ‘ Zoological Jo u rn a l,’ and, as Swainson
says (Bibl. Zool. pt. 2, p. 365), he “ was one of th e first to apply th e
circular theory to the arrangement of birds.”
Not long after his appointment to his post a t the Zoological Society
John Gould married Miss Coxen, th e daughter of a Kentish gentleman
named Nicholas Coxen; and to this lady is due much of th e ultimate
success of her husband’s career, for she was as accomplished an a rtist as
she was one of the best of wives. H is marriage took place in 1829, and
in 1832 he published his first work, th e ‘Century of Birds from the
Himalaya Mountains.’ Erom whom Gould got th e collection has, I
believe, never been stated. I t would seem to have been formed principally
in th e North-western Himalayas, b u t a t least one Southern species,
Myiophonus horsjieldii, is included on the supposition th a t it might
occur also in the Himalayas. The text, however, shows th a t the
collections of Sykes and Hodgson were known to Gould and Vigors.
The descriptions of these Himalayan birds form the subject of some of
the earliest papers in th e ‘ Proceedings’ of th e infant Zoological Society,
and Vigors’s articles were read a t th e meeting on Nov. 23, 1830,
and continued a t intervals u n til Dec. 27, 1831. At the time of the
first meeting in 1830 Gould is spoken of as an “ Associate ” of th e
Linnean Society, b u t from th e title of the ‘ Century,’ published m 1832,
he appears to have become by th a t time a “ Eellow ot th e Society. After
Vigors had described the Himalayan novelties, the idea struck Gould
th a t an illustrated work might be published, with figures of these
interesting birds. Vigors would write th e letterpress and Gould himself
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