John Edmonstone

John Edmonstone was a black enslaved man probably born in Demerara, British Guiana (present-day Guyana, South America), who later gained his freedom. He learned taxidermy from Charles Waterton, whose father-in-law Charles Edmonstone (b. 1793, Cardross Park, Dumbarton, Scotland – 29 November 1827, Cardross Park, Dumbarton) had a plantation in Demerara.[1][2][3]

After he was freed, Edmonstone came to Glasgow with his former master, Charles Edmonstone. From there he moved to Edinburgh (37 and 51 Lothian Street), where he taught taxidermy to students at the University of Edinburgh, including Charles Darwin.[1][2] Edmonstone moved his taxidermy shop to Edinburgh's main shopping thoroughfare, opening at 29 and then later 66 Princes Street. In the 1840s he moved shop again to 10 South St David's Street.[4]

Edmonstone gave Darwin inspiring accounts of tropical rain forests in South America and may have encouraged him to explore there. The taxidermy Darwin learnt from Edmonstone helped him greatly during the voyage of HMS Beagle.[1][2] However, Darwin does not mention him by name, so the identification of Edmonstone as Darwin's teacher is not completely certain and is based on the research of Freeman.[5]

Legacy

In 2009, a plaque to commemorate Edmonstone was commissioned by the London arts venue, Kings Place, to be made by Wedgwood porcelain firm.[6] The plaque was put up at Negociants Bar, in Lothian Street, Edinburgh, but has since been lost.[6][7]

Edmonstone is regarded as one of the "100 Great Black Britons".[8]

A poem narrated from the perspective of John Edmonstone appears in the Winter 2019 issue of African American Review.[9]

References
  1. BBC. "BBC - Radio 4 Making History - Latest programme". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. "Toespraak Mcewen (eng)". 23 December 2005. Archived from the original on 23 December 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. "Will of Charles Edmonstone dated 15 May 1828". National Records of Scotland reference SC65/34/1. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  4. Post Office Directories, Edinburgh, 1823–1843.
  5. Freeman, R. B. (1978). "Darwin's negro bird-stuffer". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 33: 83–86. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1978.0006. S2CID 145699083.
  6. "Memorial for Darwin slave mentor". 9 March 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  7. Mitchell, Hilary (8 October 2019). "The amazing tale of John Edmonstone: the freed slave who taught Charles Darwin in Edinburgh". Edinburgh Live. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. "100 Great Black Britons - John Edmonstone". www.100greatblackbritons.com. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  9. Peretz, Jeremy Jacob (Winter 2019). "Golden Shovel #2: John Edmonston(e), or 'Darwin's negro bird-stuffer'". African American Review. 52 (4): 394–395. doi:10.1353/afa.2019.0059 – via Project Muse.


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