William John Swainson was a British conchologist, malacologist, entomologist, and last but not least an artist. William was born into a family of boys; he was the eldest and was the last to die. Being born in St. Mary Newington, London near the home of the Linnaean society impacted his interest in natural history. He was closely affiliated with the society because his father had been a member. William’s mother was never around, but a very influential figure in Williams life was his cousin a botanist named Isaac Swainson. While William was very bright, education didn’t come easy. He suffered from a speech difficulty, but yet he received his education from Lancaster grammar school. He joined the Liverpool Customs at age 15 as a junior clerk. …show more content…
William traveled to Brazil to research natural history, although the revolution cut his visit short he managed to escape and returned back to the UK with 760 different types of bird skins, 1,200 plant species, 20,000 insect samples, and more than a hundred drawings of different fish in which he became known for. He also explored Greece and Italy which then furthered his knowledge in fish and flowers in the Mediterranean. Swainson is most prevalently known for his illustrations and his naming of, scientific as well as common names of plants and animals.
Through Williams’s connections he also managed to be the first illustrator/naturalist to have a book that used lithography to illustrate “Zoological Illustrations”. The drawings in the book came in black and white; they were hand-painted according to the patterns Swainson made himself. The publication of this book made people look at Swainson as a true man of science.
He became a member of the New Zealand Company and the church of England Committee in 1839. Though his passion for natural history didn’t die the involvement he had in these organizations helped him give up his job in scientific literature and