Captain Frederick Wollaston HuttonFRSFGS (16 November 1836 – 27 October 1905) was an English-born New Zealand scientist who applied the theory of
natural selection to explain the origins and nature of the
natural history of
New Zealand. Whilst an army officer, he embarked on an academic career in geology and biology, to become one of the most able and prolific nineteenth century naturalists of New Zealand.
Early life
Frederick Hutton's biographical accounts assert that he was born at
Gate Burton,
Lincolnshire, on 16 November 1836, and by parish records was baptised there on 27 January 1837; the second son of the Rev. Henry Frederick Hutton and his wife Louisa Wollaston, daughter of the Rev. Henry John Wollaston.[4][5][6] Paternal grandfather, William Hutton, was the owner of the Gate Burton estate.[7] His signed military statement of services, however, records that he was born at
Bracknell,
Berkshire, England, on 16 November 1836.[8]
He received his early education through Southwell Grammar School, Notinghamshire, and, with a view to entering the
Royal Navy, the Royal Naval Academy at
Gosport, Hampshire. After brief service as a midshipman in Green's Merchant Service, with three voyages to India in the Alfred, he went on to civil engineer studies at the applied science department of
King's College London in 1854–55.[9][10][11]
Career
Military
At the age of 18.5 years, Hutton purchased a commission as ensign in the
23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot on 18 May 1855.[12] Stationed at
Malta, November 1855–8 March 1856, he moved on to take part in the
Crimean War, 9 March–21 July 1856, and
Indian Mutiny, 28 September 1857–22 May 1858.[13] Following Crimea, and having advanced to rank of lieutenant by purchase on 27 March 1857,[14] the regiment embarked for the
war in China but as with other forces, was diverted at
Singapore to
Calcutta for the mutiny in India.[11] Joining the army at
Lucknow on 14 November, Hutton was present at the
second relief of Lucknow, the defeat of the Gwalior Contingent in the
second battle of Cawnpore and the retaking of Lucknow in March 1858, under the command of General Sir
Colin Campbell.[8] He was issued the
Indian Mutiny Medal with two clasps—Relief of Lucknow, Lucknow.[1]
Transferred to 2nd Battalion of his regiment on 22 May 1858, he returned home in June 1858 to help raise it. After passing, through the
School of Musketry,
Hythe, Kent, he was appointed Instructor of Musketry to his battalion on 2 November 1858,[15] and accompanied his regiment to Malta.
Back in England in 1860, and having devoted some study to geology, Hutton was elected a Fellow of the
Geological Society of London (FGS). Over the next few years he completed military training at Staff College, Sandhurst, and Woolwich.[9] He'd also taken a six month chemistry course in inorganic analysis with Professor
George Downing Liveing,
Cambridge, then teaching at Sandhurst.[16][17]
In 1862, he was attached first to the
Royal Horse Artillery and thereafter to the
9th Lancers. Following elevation to rank of captain by purchase on 2 December 1862,[18][19] he married Annie Gouger Montgomerie, at
Holy Trinity, Paddington, London, on 4 February 1863.[20] He re-joined his regiment at Malta but was appointed to the staff of Ireland from 11 September 1863, as Brigade Major, 2nd Infantry Brigade, at the
Curragh.[21][11] That year he published the paper, The Importance of a Knowledge of Geology to Military Men, in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution.[22] After some nine months at the Curragh, Hutton moved to head quarters in
Dublin as Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General from 1 July 1864,[23] then, in November 1865, resigned and sold out of the army.[11]
In May 1867, Captain Hutton volunteered to take charge of
Auckland Museum, articles of which had been suffering in its Grafton Road cottage, and sought to put the institution in good order with its relocation to the very large basement room of the new Provincial Government offices on the corner of Princes Street and Victoria Quadrant—
The Northern Club building.[26][27] Accepted as Honorary Curator by the Superintendent of Auckland Province,
John Williamson, he worked his way through arranging and classifying the confused and inconsistently recorded collections. Additionally, he prepared exhibition of the objects, received further specimens, artefacts etc. and worked towards establishing a museum library.[2][3][28]
Hutton and
Thomas Gillies initiated the inaugural public meeting of 6 November 1867, held in the Board Room of the Auckland Board of Commissioners, to establish the Auckland Philosophical Society; soon renamed
Auckland Institute. The meeting was called immediately following a conversation they'd had in relation to the action taken by the
General Assembly of New Zealand in constituting the
New Zealand Institute.
James Hector, manager of the Institute in Wellington, had recently suggested to Gillies the propriety of establishing branches throughout New Zealand, especially in Auckland. Auckland Institute was formally incorporated with the New Zealand Institute on 10 June 1868. Auckland Museum was transferred to the Auckland Institute in October 1869.[29][30][31][32][33]
In 1867 he was employed by the Superintendent of Auckland to carry out a geological survey of the lower Waikato.[34] On 8 June 1869, he reported the discovery of substantial coalfields between the Maramarua and Whangamarino rivers, which another settler intended to work for his flax mill.[35] Later in 1869, Hutton and family sold their
Epsom home in Auckland and moved to the Waikato, where he'd erected a steam-powered flax mill at Churchill, a station on the western bank of the
Waikato River, near Whangape Stream.[16][17][36] Hutton's venture, however, proved uneconomic and in consequence his flax mill with 500 acres of flax land, along with a farm of 2,000 acres situated on
Lake Whangape, were put up for sale in March 1872.[37][38]
He worked successively at the Colonial Museum, Wellington (1871–1873) (now called
Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand);
Otago Museum, Dunedin (1874–1879);[45] and the
Canterbury Museum, Christchurch (1887–1905).[46]
In 1860, he wrote a supportive review of
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species for the journal, The Geologist.[48] In 1861, he wrote an article defending Darwinism in the same journal.[49] Hutton defended Darwin from the objections of creationist
Adam Sedgwick, which he described as "gross ironical misrepresentations". He wrote that
creationism was a "mere assertion, an evasion of the question, a cloak for ignorance."[48]
Throughout his life, Hutton remained a staunch exponent of Darwin's theories of
natural selection, and Darwin himself expressed his appreciation in a letter to Hutton.[48]
Taxa
Taxa described and named by Hutton include:
Cabalus modestus (Hutton, 1872) – the
Chatham rail
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1860).
"Notes and Queries: Heterostegina-bed". The Geologist; A Popular Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Geology. 3. London: "Geologist" Office: 137.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1861).
"Some Remarks on Mr Darwin's Theory". The Geologist; A Popular Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Geology. 4. London: "Geologist" Office: 132–136, 183–188 – via
BHL.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1887). Darwinism: A Lecture at the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, September 12, 1887. Christchurch: The "Press" Job Printing Office.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1902).
The Lesson of Evolution (1 ed.). London: Duckworth and Co. – via
BHL.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston;
Drummond, James (1902). Nature in New Zealand. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1904).
Index Faunæ Novæ Zealandiæ. London: Dulau & Co. – via
BHL. A complete list of all animals recorded in New Zealand.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston;
Drummond, James (1904). The Animals of New Zealand; An Account of the Dominion's Air-breathing Vertebrates (1 ed.). Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. A popular edition.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston;
Drummond, James (1905). The Animals of New Zealand; An Account of the Dominion's Air-breathing Vertebrates (2 ed.). Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. A revised and enlarged edition.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1904).
"Art. L—The Formation of the Canterbury Plains". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 37. Wellington: John McKay, Government Printing Office: 465–472.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1906). Jacks, L. P.; Hicks, George Dawes (eds.).
"What is Life?". The Hibbert Journal: A Quarterly Review of Religion, Theology, and Philosophy. 4 (October 1905–July 1906). London: Williams and Norgate: 183–186.
Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1907).
The Lesson of Evolution (2 ed.). Christchurch: Printed for private circulation – via
BHL.
Hutton married Annie Gouger Montgomerie, daughter of William Montgomerie and his wife Elizabeth Graham, at Trinity Church, Paddington, London, on 4 February 1863; William had been Superintending Surgeon of the HEIC Bengal Medical Service, and had received the Gold Medal of the Society of Arts for introducing
gutta percha into Europe as a general utility.[20][5] Their children included Gilbert Montgomerie Hutton (1865–1911) of the Royal Engineers.[50]
Arms of Frederick Wollaston Hutton
Armorial bearings—Or, on a fesse sable, surmounted by a pale invected of the last, pierced of the field, three stags' heads caboshed counterchanged. Mantling sable and or. Crest—On a wreath of the colours, in front of a fern-brake proper, a stag's head caboshed or. Motto—
Post tenebras spero lucem (After darkness, I hope for light)[51][4]
^
abcCampbell, J. D. (May 1984). "F. W. Hutton: The Auckland Years, 1866–1871". Newsletter. Geological Society of New Zealand. No. 64. Geological Society of New Zealand. pp. 22–29.
ISSN0431-2163.
^Hutton, Frederick Wollaston (1874). "Otago Museum". Appendix to Votes & Proceedings of the Otago Provincial Council. Session XXXIII. 1874: 79.
^"In the Public Eye". The New Zealand Illustrated Magazine. Vol. 6, no. 5. 1 August 1902. pp. 323–324.
^Jenkinson, Sidney Hartley (1940). "6. Hutton".
New Zealanders and Science. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. pp. 60–69 – via NZETC.
^
abcStenhouse, John. (1990). Darwin's Captain: F. W. Hutton and the Nineteenth-Century Darwinian Debates. Journal of the History of Biology 23 (3): 411–442.