Biography - Arthur Bowes Smyth - Australian Dictionary of Biography

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He lived at Tolleshunt D'Arcy and practised there at least between 1778 and 1783. In 1787 he was appointed a surgeon in the <i>Lady Penrhyn</i> in the First Fleet; he took charge of the prisoners when the convicts' surgeon on board, Dr Alltree, fell ill at Tenerife. Under the name of Arthur Bowes, as he was known in the colony, from 22 March 1787 to 12 August 1789 he kept a journal which included a record of the events of the voyage and the first weeks in New South Wales. While still in Sydney, on 19 March he reported on the birds of Lord Howe Island where Lieutenant <a title="Ball, Henry Lidgbird (1756 - 1818)" href="ball-henry-lidgbird-1734">Henry Ball</a> had landed from the <i>Supply</i> on the way back from Norfolk Island.</p><p>Smyth left Sydney in the <i>Lady Penrhyn</i> on 20 April, and the journal is most significant for its descriptions of bird life at Port Jackson and Lord Howe Island, where the ship called on her way to China. He collected curios and natural history specimens on his excursions at Port Jackson, in a way typical of the non-scientific collecting done in the colony before <a title="Caley, George (1770 - 1829)" href="caley-george-1866">George Caley</a> arrived in 1800. Bowes must have been one of the first white men to see an emu, of which he made a drawing. While on Lord Howe Island he made the earliest known drawing of the now extinct white gallinule, and observed the bell magpie or currawong and four now rare or extinct birds, which have been identified as the Lord Howe Island pigeon, the booby, the Lord Howe Island rail or woodhen, and an extinct species of parrakeet. He died soon after his return to England and was buried at Tolleshunt D'Arcy on 31 March 1790. His journal is held by the National Library of Australia, Canberra.</p> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Select Bibliography</h3> <ul> <li><i>Historical Records of New South Wales</i>, vol 1 part 2, vol 2</li><li>K. A. Hindwood, ‘An Historic Diary’, <i>Emu</i>, vol 32, part 1, July 1932, pp 17-29</li><li>MS 995 (State Library of New South Wales).</li> </ul> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Additional Resources and Scholarship</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=arthur+bowes+smyth" target="_blank">Trove search</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Related Entries in NCB Sites</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/fisher-john-31034/text38403">Fisher, John</a> (acquaintance)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/fisher-john-31034/text38403"><img src="/images/site/pa/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to People Australia entry" title="go to People Australia entry"/></a></span></li> </ul> </div> <div class="citation"> <h3>Citation details</h3> <p>'Smyth, Arthur Bowes (1750–1790)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smyth-arthur-bowes-2674/text3735, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 29 November 2024.</p> <p id="origPubDetails"><strong>This article was published in hardcopy in <em><strong>Australian Dictionary of Biography</strong></em>, Volume 2, (Melbourne University Press), 1967</strong></p> <p style="margin-top: 20px;">View the <a href="/frontpages/fp2.pdf" target="_blank">front pages</a> for Volume 2</p> </div> <div id="printFooter"> <p class="floatLeft">© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024</p> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { Shadowbox.init({ counterType: 'skip', continuous: true, overlayOpacity: 0.80 }); }); </script> <div id="pageSidebar"> <div class="lifeSummary"> <h3>Life Summary <span><a href ="/lifesummary/smyth-arthur-bowes-2674" target="_blank">[details]</a></span></h3> <h5>Alternative Names</h5> <ul class="altnames"> <li>Bowes, Arthur</li> <li>Smythe, Arthur Bowes</li> </ul> <h5>Birth</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/birth/?bdate=23081750">23 August</a>, <a href="/biographies/birth/?bdate=1750">1750</a> <br /> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22Tolleshunt%20D%27Arcy%2C%20Essex%2C%20England%22">Tolleshunt D'Arcy</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22Essex%2C%20England%22">Essex</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22England%22">England</a> </p> <h5>Death</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/death/?ddate=31031790">31 March</a>, <a href="/biographies/death/?ddate=1790">1790</a> (aged 39) <br /> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22England%22">England</a> </p> <div class="life-summary__heading-container"> <h5 class="life-summary__heading--note">Cultural Heritage</h5> <button class="life-summary__note-button" title="View explanatory note" data-note-text-id="life-summary-cultural"> <img src="/images/down_arrow.png" class="life-summary__button-image"> </button> </div> <p class="life-summary__note-text" id="life-summary-cultural"> Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity. </p><ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=ethnicity%3A%22English%22">English</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Passenger Ship </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=rele%3A%2210181%22&re=true&rpp=200">Lady Penrhyn (1788)</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Occupation or Descriptor </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=diarist%2Fletter%20writer&rpp=200">diarist/letter writer</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=natural%20history%20artist&rpp=200">natural history artist</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=natural%20history%20collector&rpp=200">natural history collector</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=ornithologist&rpp=200">ornithologist</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=ship%27s%20surgeon&rpp=200">ship's surgeon</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=surgeon&rpp=200">surgeon</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Key Events </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/entity/15270?eid=16284">Botany Bay Lagoon (NSW)</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=rele%3A%221562%22&re=true&rpp=200">First Fleet (1788)</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer> <div class="clearFix" id="footer"> <h3>Australian Dictionary of Biography</h3> <p>An initiative of the <a href="https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/ncb">National Centre of Biography</a> at the <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University</a></p> <div class="clearFix"> <p class="floatLeft">© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024</p> <p class="floatLeft cdp"><a href="/copyright/">Copyright</a> · <a href="/disclaimer/">Disclaimer</a> · <a href="/privacy/">Privacy Policy</a> · <a href="/contact-us/">Contact Us</a></p> </div> </div> </footer> </body> </html>

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Biography - Arthur Bowes Smyth - Australian Dictionary of Biography