Mr Elsey, and "his" Birds ... (2 Viewers)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Here's a short question (alt. a correction, or even corrections!?) regarding the British explorer and collector Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey, commemorated in the following names (in chronological order) ...

elseyi as in:
• the invalid (Pale-headed) Rosella ssp. "Platycercus adscitus elseyi" MATHEWS 1912 (here), but without any explanation, no dedication, nothing (in the usual way of Mr Mathews) ..., though there's an anonymous "Elsey" mentioned, briefly, in/on top of page 253 (in the same journal), as the collector of some Northern specimens of "Ieracidea berigora occidentalis" (i.e. today's Brown Falcon ssp. Falco berigora occidentalis).

Elseya as in:
• the Generic name Elseya MATHEWS 1913 (here, in text, + here, here and here) [not "Elseya Grandidier 1867"* (in Testudines)]. Also note that Mathews kept it in the Shorebird/Wader Genus Charadrius on the Plates!?!

Elseyornis as in:
• the Generic name Elseyornis MATHEWS 1914 (here), replacement name for the preoccupied Elseya (above).

Just to be clear, I have no reason to question the Identity of the dedicatee (I'm pretty sure we've got the proper guy).

Either way, in Gould's Handbook to [his] The Birds of Australia (vol. 1, 1865) he described Mr Elsey's sad End, in the entry for today's Purple-crowned Fairywren Malurus coronatus, Gould, there a k a 'Crowned Superb Warbler' (here):

I now come to the painful task of naming its collector; I say painful, because the gentleman who shot and brought it to this country has fallen, like many other Australian explorers, a victim to the climate of that country, congenial to Europeans as it generally is. It will be recollected by all those who take an interest in scientific explorations, that Mr. Elsey accompanied A. C. Gregory, Esq., as surgeon and naturalist on his great journey from the Victoria River to Moreton Bay. Soon after his return to England it became evident that he had contracted the disease called hæmoptysis, which speedily obliged him to remove to a warmer climate: he selected one of the West-Indian Islands, and, on arriving, commenced his investigations with his usual spirit; but he rapidly became worse, and science shortly had to deplore the loss of one of her most enthusiastic votaries. The little I saw of this gentleman impressed me with the belief that he had a true love for nature; and had he been spared, I feel assured he would have distinguished himself greatly in one or other branch of the natural sciences.

In today's Key explained (in alphabetical order):

Elseya
(Charadriidae; syn. Elseyornis † Black-fronted Dotterel E. melanops) Dr Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey (1834-1858) English surgeon-naturalist, explorer in northern Australia 1855-1856; "The Australian C. melanops also merits generic distinction ...
[...]
... (Mathews 1913); "Elseya Mathews, Birds Austr. vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 125, May 2nd, 1913. Type (by original designation): Charadrius melanops Vieillot. Not Elseya Grandidier, Rev. de Zool. p. 232, 1867." (Mathews, 1927, Syst. Av. Austral., I, p. 163).

elseyi
Dr Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey (1834-1858) English surgeon-naturalist, explorer in northern Australia 1855-1856 (syn. Platycercus adscitus).

ELSEYORNIS
(Charadriidae; Ϯ Black-fronted Dotterel E. melanops) Genus Elseya Mathews, 1913, dotterel; Gr. ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos bird; "ELSEYORNIS, nom. nov. must replace Elseya Mathews. I introduced the latter name in the Birds of Australia, Vol. II, pp. 125, 135, 1913, for Charadrius melanops Vieillot, but through an unfortunate oversight did not recognise its invalidity by its prior use by Grandidier, Revue de Zool., p. 232, 1867. The species name must read Elseyornis melanops, the two subspecies admitted being Elseyornis m. melanops and E. m. russatus." (Mathews 1914); "Elseyornis Mathews, 1914, Austral Avian Record, II, p. 87. New name for Elseya Mathews, 1913, not of Grandidier, 1867 (Testudines)." (JAJ 2021).
Var. Elsyornis.
Synon. Elseya.

But, ...didn't Mr Elsey pass away in 1857?

To be exact: "He died at St Kitts on 31 December 1857." At least according to the entry in Australian Dictionary of Biography (1972), for: "Elsey, Joseph Ravenscroft (1834–1857)", written by A. H. Chisholm = here.

Or ... ?

Björn

---

*Doesn't the Authorship of the Turtle genus Elseya (in order Testudines) belong to J. E. Gray, 1867... ?!?

I have to ask simply as I cannot find it on Grandidier's page 232 (here). Instead see J. E. Gray, 1867 (here):

I am therefore inclined to form for these a new genus, which I propose to name (after my late friend, who lost his life in attempting to increase our knowledge of the zoological productions of Australia) ELSEYA, and which may be thus characterized:— ...

Yet another unfortunate "Mathews moment"?

Either way, it's preoccupied, by a Non-Bird.

 

[l_raty]

Yet another unfortunate "Mathews moment"?

Yes, Mathews erred here.
This should have been Elseya Mathews, 1913, not Elseya Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, 20, p. 43, 1867.

 

[l_raty]

But, ...didn't Mr Elsey pass away in 1857?

To be exact: "He died at St Kitts on 31 December 1857." At least according to the entry in Australian Dictionary of Biography (1972), for: "Elsey, Joseph Ravenscroft (1834–1857)", written by A. H. Chisholm = here.

Death notice, 13 Feb 1858, in the Gardeners' Chronicle :
Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette

Death of Mr. Elsey.--We find the announcement of this melancholy event in the St. Christopher Advertiser of December 28, 1857:--It with regret that we have to chronicle the death of Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey, Esq., M.R.C.S. and F.R.G.S., son of J. Ravenscroft Elsey, Esq., of the Bank England, which took place at Springfield, the residence of the Hon. and Ven. Archdeacon Jermyn, on the evening of Thursday, the 31st ult. This young man [...]

(I assume the "St. Christopher Advertiser of December 28" -- published weekly in Saint Kitts -- covered the week starting on this date, and appeared in early January. The 31st of December 1857 was indeed a Thursday.)

I understand that his father, Joseph Ravenscroft Elsley (senior), "of the Bank of England", died on 29 Sep 1858.