William Yarrell

William Yarrell (3 June 1784 – 1 September 1856) was an English zoologist, prolific writer, bookseller and naturalist admired by his contemporaries for his precise scientific work.

Yarrell was born in Duke Street, St James, Westminster

Parents Francis Yarrell and Sarah (née Blane).

His father and uncle ran a newspaper agency and bookshop.

He studied at Dr Nicholson's school in Ealing. When his father died in 1794 the Yarrell family moved to Great Ryder Street, where William lived the rest of his life. In 1802 he became a clerk with the Herries, Farquhar and Co. bank.

In 1803 he and his cousin, Edward Jones, joined his father's business.] He sometimes left the business in Jones's care, going into the countryside to fish and shoot.[1] He acquired the reputation of being the best shot and the best angler in London, and soon also became an expert naturalist. He sent many bird specimens to Thomas Bewick who engraved them as woodcuts.

Yarrell died during a trip to Great Yarmouth, and a memorial was erected in St James, Piccadilly. He was buried in the churchyard of Bayford in Hertfordshire, with his chosen epitaph

"He was the survivor of twelve brothers and sisters, who, with their father and mother, are all placed close to this spot"

together with William Wordsworth's lines

"first and last, The earliest summon'd and the longest spared — Are here deposited."

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References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Yarrell
• Forbes, Thomas R (December 1962). http://www.jstor.org/stable/985256?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "William Yarrell, British Naturalist". ]