Portrait of Richard Pulteney by Thomas Beach
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Date: 1788 Object Details: Richard Pulteney (1730 - 1801) was born in Loughborough and became a well respected and eminent botanist. He went to school in Loughborough and was apprenticed to an apothecary. He later went to Edinburgh to become a surgeon. He introduced the Linnaean classification system (genus and species) to British science in 1790. He provided the first accounts of Leicestershire botany and left many plant collections for future botanists to study. Thomas Beach (1738-1806) was a respected portrait painter who worked in
both London and Bath and exhibited work at the Royal Academy. He painted this portrait in 1788 and the museum service have been looking after it since 1911. Find Out More: Tell Us More!
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Neil 
Richard Pulteney
probably knew John Nichols, author of 'The History and the Antiquities of the County of Leicester' (1790),
which includes the account by the Reverend George Crabbe, Rector of Muston, of 'The Natural History
of the Vale of Belvoir'. Crabbe was an 'all-rounder' who studied the plants, animals and rocks of the
Vale, using the Linnaean System, and illustrating his account with exquisite engravings by Schnebellie
made from drawings of specimens collected by William Mounsey, curate of Bottesford (an unsung hero,
if there ever was one). Crabbe applied the Linnaean System to animals and fossils as well as plants,
and as such was thoroughly up to date. Did he learn this from Pulteney (who apparently confined himself
to botany), from the earlier translations of Linnaeus by Erasmus Darwin, or from someone else?
Page Last Updated: 13 May 2013
