Moritz Richard Schomburgk

Moritz Richard Schomburgk (5 October 1811 – 24 March 1891),[1] generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German botanist and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Schomburgk (a Lutheran minister in Thuringia),[2] and his wife Christiane Juliane Wilhelmine, née Krippendorf.[1] Schomburgk studied botany at Berlin and in the Royal Gardens at Potsdam.[2] In 1844 he went on the Prussian-British expedition to British Guiana and Brazil, led by his brother Robert. He collected for the Museum of the University of Berlin. After the political turmoil in Europe in 1848, he emigrated to Gawler, South Australia. In 1865, he became Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, a position he kept until his death and was succeeded by Maurice William Holtze. He wrote Versuch einer Zusammenstellung der Flora und Fauna von Britisch-Guiana (1848).

Schomburgk died in Adelaide, South Australia; he was survived by a son and four daughters.[1]

Family

His older brother, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (5 June 1804 - 11 March 1865), carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies (in which Moritz Richard participated) and also fulfilled diplomatic missions for Great Britain in the Dominican Republic and Thailand.

His brother Otto (28 August 1810 – 16 August 1857) emigrated to Australia with Moritz Richard.

His youngest brother, Julius Ludwig, (ca.1818 - 9 March 1893), was chief designer for noted Adelaide silversmith J. M. Wendt.

A sister, Caroline Schomburgk ( – 15 November 1874), was the second wife of Rev. Dr. Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke (16 July 1815 – 4 January 1898) of Tanunda.

A son, Otto Schomburgk (ca.1858 – 1 September 1938), held several important posts such as Chief Probation Officer with the South Australian public service.[3] He married Ada Louise, daughter of Henry Downer

Further reading

External links

References

  1. 1 2 3 Middelmann, Raoul F. "Schomburgk, Moritz Richard (1811–1891)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  2. 1 2 Mennell, Philip (1892). "Wikisource link to Schomburgk, Richard Von". The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co. Wikisource
  3. ↑ "Former Sheriff Dies, Aged 80.". The Advertiser (Adelaide, S.A.: National Library of Australia). 1 September 1938. p. 18. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Author Query for 'M.R.Schomb.'". International Plant Names Index.


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