Marmaduke Tunstall (1743 – 11 October 1790) was anEnglishornithologist and collector. He was the author ofOrnithologia Britannica (1771), probably the first British work to usebinomial nomenclature.
Tunstall was born atBurton Constable inYorkshire. In 1760, he succeeded to the family estates ofScargill, Hutton, Long Villers andWycliffe. Being a Catholic, he was educated atDouai in France. On completing his studies, he took up residence in Welbeck Street,London, where he formed an extensive museum, as well as a large collection of living birds and animals. He is known for formally describing thePeregrine falcon. After his marriage in 1776, the museum was moved to Wycliffe, and at the time, was one of the finest in England.
Tunstall became a fellow of theSociety of Antiquaries of London at the age of twenty-one, and in 1771, was elected a fellow of theRoyal Society.
Tunstall died at Wycliffe, and his estates passed to his half-brother, William Constable. Constable invitedThomas Bewick, whom Marmaduke had commissioned to engrave 'The Wild Bull of the Ancient Caledonian Breed, now in the park at Chilingham-Castle, Northumberland', to Wycliffe where he spent two months making drawings from the bird specimens. The museum, known as the Wycliffe Museum, was sold to George Allan of Blackwell Grange, Darlington who set up the contents in his home. The museum remained even after his death in 1800 at the Grange until 1822 when it was purchased by the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, and becoming the "Newcastle Museum."[1]
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