Background
Hugh Falconer was born on February 29, 1808, in Forres, Scotland. He was the youngest son of David Falconer of Forres, Elginshire.
1837
In 1837 Falconer received the Geological Society’s highest honor, the Wollaston Medal.
King's College, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, Scotland
Falconer studied successively at the university of Aberdeen, where he took the Master of Arts degree.
Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, Scotland
Falconer studied at the university Edinburgh, where he obtained the Doctor of Medicine degree.
A photo of Falconer from 1844.
Botanist geologist paleoanthropologist paleontologist scientist
Hugh Falconer was born on February 29, 1808, in Forres, Scotland. He was the youngest son of David Falconer of Forres, Elginshire.
Falconer studied successively at the university of Aberdeen, where he took the Master of Arts degree, and at Edinburgh, where he obtained the Doctor of Medicine degree.
Falconer went to India in 1830 as surgeon with the East India Company. In 1832 he was appointed superintendent of the botanic garden at Saharanpur, at the foot of the Siwalik Hills, part of the sub-Himalayan range. He returned to England in 1842 and was appointed in 1844 to superintend the arrangement of Indian fossils for the British Museum. In 1848 he went to Calcutta as superintendent of the botanic garden there and professor of botany at the Calcutta Medical College. He returned again to England in 1855, his health impaired.
Falconer’s official posts were thus botanical, and in the course of his duties he explored mountainous country and made immense collections of plants. He was largely responsible for starting the cultivation of Indian tea (while at Saharanpur) and for the introduction into India of the quinine-bearing plant (while at Calcutta).
But his scientific fame rests chiefly on his researches among the vertebrate fossils, particularly the mammals, which he and Captain (later Sir) Proby Cautley brought to light from among the late Tertiary rocks of the Siwalik Hills. He investigated these with extraordinary energy and skill, hunting the living animals around him and preparing their skeletons for comparison with the fossils. This vertebrate fossil fauna was unexampled for extent and richness in any region then known. It included species of mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and giraffe, as well as some reptiles (crocodiles and tortoises) and fishes. This great work accomplished by Falconer and Cautley was recognized in England in 1837. Unfortunately, their discoveries were never fully described and illustrated.
Falconer was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Falconer was a skillful botanist with extraordinary energy.
It is not known whether Falconer was married or not.