Charles J. Patten

Charles Joseph Patten MA MD Sc.D. FRAI[1] (1870–1948) was an Irish anatomist and ornithologist.

Charles Joseph Patten
Born1870
Ballybrack, Dublin, Ireland
Died13 June 1948 (aged 78)
Farnham, Surrey, UK
CitizenshipIrish
Alma materTrinity College, Dublin
Known forOrnithology
Scientific career
FieldsAnatomy, Ornithology
InstitutionsTrinity College, Dublin, University of Sheffield

Biography

Charles Joseph Patten was born in 1870, in Ballybrack, Co. Dublin. He was a son of Richard Patten, of the Court of Exchequer.[1] He was educated at The High School, Dublin. He studied biology and medicine at Trinity College and graduated in 1896. After that, he joined the staff of Daniel John Cunningham at Trinity College as demonstrator of anatomy. In 1901 he became professor of anatomy at the University College of Sheffield, as the successor of Christopher Addison.[2]

When he left Dublin that was observed as a loss for Irish ornithology: W.F. de Vismes Kane, the President of the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, in his Presidential Address of January 1902, said: Patten's "appointment to the Chair of Anatomy at Sheffield deprives us of one of our most promising members."[3]

After Sheffield got its independent university, in 1905, Patten got in charge of the new department of anatomy. He retired in 1935, then becoming professor emeritus. He continued to live in Sheffield. The last years of his life he lived in Farnham, Surrey.[2] He died after a very brief illness on 13 June 1948, at his home.[1]

Ornithologist

Charles J. Patten was perhaps better known as an ornithologist than as an anatomist. "He had an extraordinary affection for birds, and an unusual knowledge of their ways."[2] He published books and articles on birds, both popular and scientific. He observed birds as a naturalist, rather than as an anatomist, and was interested in their habits, their nesting, and their migration. In 1906 he first published The Aquatic Birds of Great Britain, which became a standard work.[4]

In 1916 Patten identified a new bird species for Ireland: a "black-eared wheatear"; the species would nowadays be called western black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica). The species was obtained on Tuskar Rock, Co. Wexford, on May 16, by Mr. Glanville, the principal lightkeeper, and was sent in the flesh for identification to Patten, who announced the new species on the Irish list in Nature.[5]

Bibliography
  • Patten, Charles J. (1900). "Note on the Configuration of the Heart in Man and some other Mammalian Groups". Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. 35 (Pt. 1): 71–82.5. doi:10.1007/BF03045169. PMC 1287281. PMID 17232458.
Read before the Section of Anatomy and Physiology of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, June 1, 1900, and before the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, at Manchester, June 22, 1900

References
  1. MacConaill 1949.
  2. An 1948.
  3. Vismes Kane, W.F. de (March 1902). "Recent Progress in Irish Natural History (Presidential Address to the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, January 14, 1902)". The Irish Naturalist. 11 (March): 53f.
  4. An 1948 falsely gives as the publication date of The Aquatic Birds 1912.
  5. Patten 1916.
  6. Concerning Patten 1906, see: Patterson, Robert (April 1907). "review of Patten 1906: The Aquatic Birds of Great Britain and Ireland". The Irish Naturalist. 16 (4): 156–158. JSTOR 25523050.
  7. Another copy of Patten 1906: The Aquatic Birds of Britain and Ireland at the Internet Archive
  8. Stendall, J.A.S. 1929 Review: 'The story of the birds' by C.J. Patten. Irish Naturalists' Journal 2: 152

Sources
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