Robert Oliver Cunningham (27 March 1841 – 14 July 1918) was a Scottish naturalist.
Cunningham was born on 27 March 1841, inPrestonpans,[1] the second son of the Rev. William Bruce Cunningham (1806–78), Free Church of Scotland minister in Prestonpans,[2] and Cecilia Margaret Douglas (1813–98), daughter ofDavid Douglas, Lord Reston (1769–1819), the heir ofAdam Smith.[3] He was educated at Edinburgh Academy (1851–54),[4] and graduated in medicine at theUniversity of Edinburgh in 1864. He gained a Licentiate of theRoyal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh with a thesis on theSolan Goose.[5]
In January 1866 he was appointed Professor of Natural History in the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, but resigned in June in consequence of being appointed by the Admiralty upon the recommendation ofJoseph Dalton Hooker, tocollect plants as naturalist on boardHMS Nassau under the command ofRichard Charles Mayne,[6] then commissioned for the survey of theStraits of Magellan and the west coast of Patagonia. This voyage started on 24 August 1866 from the Thames,[5] and on 18 February 1867 she arrived inPort Stanley in theFalkland Islands to coal, departing again on 2 March, much to Cunningham's regret. They returned to the Falklands in 1868 enabling Cunningham to explore and study the plants and seaweeds onEast Falkland returning a third time early in 1869.[1] TheNassau returned to England on 31 July 1869 but Cunningham remained employed by the Navy so that he could write up his natural history notes and his narrative of the voyage, this was published in 1871 asThe Natural History of the Straits of Magellan.[4] In all, Cunningham published 18 scientific papers before 1872 his first which was aboutgannets was his theses but the others were mainly on his observations from voyage of theNassau.[5] He presented some of these papers to theZoological Society of London and to theLinnean Society, becoming a fellow of the latter in 1870.[1]
In 1871 Cunningham was appointed Professor of Natural History atQueens College, Belfast where he spent the following 31 years as a university teacher. During his time inBelfast he was an enthusiastic naturalist, taught botany, geology and zoology, ran excursions and had museum curation duties. He was not completely happy, complaining of overwork and of missing friends and family in Scotland.[5] He unsuccessfully applied for a post at theUniversity of Aberdeen in 1878.[4] However, Cunningham remained highly regarded in Belfast and became involved in the university's administrative affairs. He was awarded an honorary degree by theRoyal University of Ireland. While he was at Queens his mother donated some of the books from the library of her ancestor, Adam Smith, to the college's library.[5]
Cunningham gave talks to the Torquay Natural History Society in 1904 but he does not appear to have become a member. He died at Paignton on 14 July 1918.[5]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
