(Robert Cecil) Beavan's Bullfinch
Well, ... I´m still a bit stuck (and somewhat bewildered) by R. C. Beavan, though not about the identity of dedicatee himself (I'm pretty sure we've got the proper guy!), but I'm still confused about his alleged rank/s ...
This Robert Cecil Beavan seems to have enlisted in 1858 (4 November), as either one of those "Cornets and ensigns",
here (the lowest of ranks among Officers). But wouldn't that be young for a guy born in 1841 (14 August) ...only 17 years old? Or is this a reasonable start of a Military career?
Either way, and with the risk of being tedious (as Laurent apparently had the similar idea last Tuesday), and I thought of deleting my scribblings ... but what-the-heck, I will post them anyway, simply as I compiled it all (
i.e. this post, and the subsequent/forthcoming ones). I don't want to feel that I've wasted my time completely!
No-one likes too many hours of work done "in vain" ...
Ok, here we go (again); if we follow the track record of "our guy", in
The Ibis (alone), we find the following:
•
1859–1861 (
i.e. the very first editions, vol. I–III, of
The Ibis) — No Beavan (what-so-ever).
•
1862 — Blyth (
i.e. the OD of 'Beavan's Bullfinch'): "
Lieut. Beavan (of the late 63rd B.N.I.) has just returned here [to Calcutta, I assume, where Blyth worked]
from Darjeeling, where (though chiefly on Tonglo Mountain) ... he has collected many good things in a very short time. Of novelties, a fine new true Bullfinch (Pyrrhula erythaca, nobis), ..."
•
1863 — Blyth (
here, and Plate
here; as "
Pyrrhula eruthacus" [
sic]): "This bird was shot by my friend
Lieut. Beavan, of the late 63rd B. N. I, ..."
•
1864 — No Beavan.
•
1865 —
Notes on various Indian Birds (
here, pp.400–423), by "R. C. Beavan,
Capt. Bengal Survey, M.A.S., C.M.Z.S., &c."
•
1866 — Jerdon; (
here) "
Capt, Beavan informs me ...", (
here) "
Captain Beavan writes to me ...", (and
here) "
Capt. Beavan has lately ..."
In the
List of content (
here) he's: "
Capt. Beavan*" ["* By mistake printed Capt.
Blair at p. 220." (
i.e. here and
here)]
There's also a letter from "R. C. Beavan" (no title/rank) himself, on pp.419-420.
•
1867 —
The Avifauna of the Andaman Islands, by "R. C. Beavan,
Capt. Bengal Staff Corps. C.M.Z.S." (pp. 314-334,
here)
—
Notes on various Indian Birds (
here, pp.430-455, "continued from ... 1865, p.423"), by "R. C. Beavan,
Capt. Bengal Staff Corps. C.M.Z.S."
There's also a letter, dated "Simla, June 22nd, 1866", on pp. 136-138, from/signed "R. C. Beavan (no title or rank, though in the
List of content, it's apparently from the same; "
Capt. Beavan").
Also note that he, poor guy (again!), ended up in the; Errata et corrigenda (on p.XII): Page 12, line 3 "of note, for that gentleman read Captain
Beavan." (the error itself;
here) ... which is a reference back to
The Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta,
here (from May 1865), where Beavan (on preceding page) is mentioned as "
Lieutenant R. C. Beavan".
In the
List of Members for Asiatic Society (Feb. 1865,
here) he's also listed as: "
Lieut. R. C. Beavan", as well as ditto on pp. 5, 66, 129, 190, 204 (all until Dec.1865) ...
!?!
•
1868 — Beavan himself; "
Capt." (in the header/top of pages), (
here);
Additional notes on various Indian Birds: "
I came across a flock of this new species on my way up Mount Tongloo in April 1862. ... Mr. Blyth, who described it in ‘The Ibis’ for 1862 (pp.389, 390), and in the following year furnished its portrait (Ibis, 1863, pl. x)."
Also noteworthy is the words by "
Capt." Beavan on p.387: "
I lately received a fine pair of this large Bustard from my Brother, Lieut. Reginald Beavan [
*]
, of the 22nd Punjab Native Infantry, who ...", indicating that any Naturalists back in Europe couldn't have been all unaware of the fact that there was (at least two) officers by the name Beavan, roaming the field in far-way India (that is, if they had read that certain piece, of course).
In the
List of content for the same
Ibis 1868, he's repeatedly listed as: "R. C. Beavan, Bengal Staff Corps, C.M.Z.S." (on pp. ix, x, xiii), and in a letter to the Editor the same "R. C. Beavan" (no title/rank) also propose the name "
Buchanga waldeni, sp. nov." (on p.497).
•
1869 — "
Capt." Beavan himself (
here); yet another piece by the title;
Additional notes on various Indian Birds, by "R. C. Beavan, Bengal Staff Corps, C.M.Z.S." (pp.403-426)
•
1870 — Editorial (
here), probably written by Alfred Newton (the Editor himself), on pp.301-302: "
It is with very great regret that we have to announce to our readers the death of a frequent and valuable contributor to our pages, Mr ROBERT CECIL BEAVAN, Lieutenant in the Bengal Staff Corps. ..."
Only a few pages later (pp.310-327), the promised, last (posthumous)
Additional notes on various Indian Birds, by "R. C. Beavan, Bengal Bengal Staff Corps., C.M.Z.S."
•
1871 — Jerdon (
here): "Mr. Beavan states ...", also mentioned as simply "Beavan" (on p. 346). No titles in Heaven, I guess.
•
1872 — Jerdon (
here): "... obtained by Mr. Beavan", and (
here): "... the late Mr. Beavan ... ", alt. simply just "Beavan", in various references to earlier texts (as of above).
•
1873— only as "Beavan" with various references to earlier texts (in the same
Ibis, as of above).
•
1874— once as "
Captain Beavan" (
here), elsewhere repeatedly, as above, only as "Beavan" in various references ...
•
1875 — Once mentioned (
here): "Since
Captain Beavan first obtained ... "
•
1876 — ... and similar, onwards (R.I.P.)
Björn
To be continued ...
_____________________________________________________________________________
*Note that this is the only place, in all those issues of The Ibis, where his Brother "Reginald" is mentioned by his given name.
At least so, by using the "Search Inside this book" function (I haven't read every single words in all those journals.
