Natural History : Collectors and Collections

19TH CENTURY NATURALIST AND THEIR COLLECTIONS.

CHARLES ASHFORD
Conchologist, Ornithologist and Geologist

JOHN ASHFORD
Ornothologist

REV. THOMAS SALWEY
Lichenologist and Botanist

Ludlow Museum Resource Centre is the repository for the Natural History Collection of Shropshire Museum Service. The collection is large and varied and comprises of over 55,000 items, and includes many interesting objects and specimens collected by 19th century naturalists.

Funding by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council West Midlands has enabled research to be undertaken into the lives of some of these collectors and to produce a catalogue of their collections. It has also enabled us to locate other establishments around the country who hold similar material. The exchange of information has given us a much fuller understanding of these collectors and of the collections we hold.
Summaries for each collector can be accessed by the following links.

Charles Ashford (1829-1894)

Charles Ashford was a 19th century naturalist who was interested in many aspects of natural history. His passion however, lay with conchology (study of molluscs) and his knowledge and research did much to advance the study of mollusc species of the British Isles. He was an expert in this field and during his lifetime published many papers and articles on the subject, mainly for the ‘Journal of Conchology’, ‘The Zoologist’ and ‘The Naturalist’. Charles was also interested in geology, astronomy and ornithology particularly in the breeding habits of birds and their eggs.

John Ashford (1831-1893)

John Ashford was the younger brother of Charles. He too was a keen natural historian although he was not as well known as his brother. His main interest was oology (egg collecting), and with the help of Charles built up a large and varied collection of British and European birds eggs.

The Ashford Collection

Ludlow Museum Resource Centre holds a large collection of British and European bird’s eggs and related documents collected by Charles and John Ashford.

The collection also contains a number of interesting lists and catalogues from the 19th century dealers Joseph Dunn and Thomas Cooke as well as correspondence to the Ashfords from other egg collectors from that time. The Museum holds a number of conchology papers and works written by Charles Ashford.

Rev Thomas Salwey (1791-1877)

Thomas Salwey was a Shropshire Botanist well known for his studies on the flora of Britain especially that of the Oswestry area in the north west of the county. He knew the botany of the area exceptionally well and was one of the main contributors to William Leighton’s ‘Lichen-Flora of Great Britain’. His main interest was lichens and contributed to many journals on the subject. As well as collecting specimens from Shropshire, he also botanized extensively in Guernsey and on the Isle of Wight contributing information on the locations of many botanical specimens to research done by other well-known 19th century botanists such as Charles Babington.

The Salwey Collection

Ludlow Museum Resource Centre holds a collection of correspondence written to Salwey from many other well-known 19th century botanists. It also holds a number of printed papers written by Salwey for various botanical journals and magazines.

Collectors and Collections part 1

Downloadable PDF version of the first part of the Collectors and Collections Document

Collectors and Collections part 2

Downloadable PDF version of the second part of the Collectors and Collections Document