Thomas Powell (botanist)

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Thomas Powell
FLS
Thomas Powell, LMS missionary to the islands of Samoa
Born(1817-06-18)18 June 1817
Cookham Dean, Berkshire, England
Died6 April 1887(1887-04-06) (aged 69)
Penzance, Cornwall
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Missionary, botanist
SpouseJane Emma Harrison
Grave of the Rev. Thomas Powell
Grave of the Rev. Thomas Powell

Thomas Powell FLS (18 June 1817 – 6 April 1887)[1]: 58–59  was a British missionary sent by the London Missionary Society (LMS) in 1844 to Samoa where he remained for 43 years. He was interested in botany, zoology and anthropology and was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. During his time on the islands he recorded details of flora, fauna and the culture of the indigenous people.[2][3]

Samoa mission[edit]

Thomas Powell was born in Cookham Dean, Berkshire and attended Hackney Theological Academy from 1839.[4] He was ordained 29 May 1844 and left London 6 June 1844 with his wife on the inaugural voyage of the missionary barque John Williams. They arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 24 August; Hobart, Van Dieman's Land on 10 October; Sydney, New South Wales, on 27 October; and Tutuila, Samoa, on 31 January 1845 and Apia, Upolu, Samoa, on 3 February 1845, en route to their posting at Savai'i.[5] In the absence of Archibald Murray from Pago Pago, Tutuila, he took charge of that station, arriving there 13 March 1845.[1]

Powell had little knowledge of the language at this time so his missionary work was initially limited, but he did have medical knowledge and used this to treat those in need. Powell left Pago Pago on 23 July 1846, to take charge of the district around Samata on the western side of Savai'i, from Alexander Chisholm departing for Tahiti. In 1848 he went with John Geddie to Aneityum, in what is now Vanuatu, returning in 1849 in bad health to Samoa.[6] He was suffering from malaria but went against Geddie's wishes.[7] He later wrote that a disagreement had occurred between the missionaries. On his return to Samoa, Powell was stationed at Tutuila where he remained for a large part of his time.[8]

As a botanist, Powell had special interests in bryophytes, fungi and lichens. Herbarium specimens collected by him in the south Pacific region between 1860 and 1890 have been indexed by the Linnean Society of London and a list of the material was published by the society in 2011.[9] He identified many of the Samoan names of plants and his paper on the subject, On Various Samoan Plants and Their Vernacular Names, was published in the 1868 Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, volume 6.[10] Other papers forwarded to the Linnean Society by Powell included details of the poisons used by Samoan islanders to tip arrows and spears.[11] He also submitted a paper on the formation of Atolls. The paper was read, but due to a critical review by Charles Darwin, it was not published.[12]

Powell helped George Pratt compile his dictionary of the Samoan language.[13] He also transcribed the Samoan story of the creation, told to him by a Samoan chief—Taua-nu'u. This is a valuable record of the islanders beliefs before the arrival of the missionaries.[14] In 1886, he published a book called A Manual of Zoology Embracing the Animals of the Scripture, in the Samoan dialect. Many of the animals would have been unknown to the Samoans, so Powell included illustrations where possible.[15][16] After his death his wife forwarded some of his papers written in Samoan to the Rev. George Pratt in Sydney Australia. Due to failing eyesight Pratt was unable to make use of the works but a colleague, John Fraser, translated the manuscripts of Samoan myths and folks songs and published them in 1896.[17]

His interests extended to ornithology and he corresponded with Philip Sclater, secretary of the Zoological Society of London, sending specimens for identification. These were passed to Osbert Salvin who presented his findings to the Society in a report 6 January 1879.[18]

Bully Hayes[edit]

Bully Hayes was a notorious recruiter of native labour in the South Seas using trickery or kidnap. The practice referred to as blackbirding, supplied plantation owners with workers who often never returned to their homeland. In 1872 Hayes was arrested by Captain Meade of the USS Narragansett in Samoa. However, after investigation, he was released due to lack of evidence. Powell, who had tried before to have Hayes prosecuted, wrote:

How is it that with such a mass of evidence as was collected on his detention here, which is in British blue books proving his kidnapping of the people of Manahiki, that he is allowed to go at large?

He had previously written:

It will be a lamentable inconsistency on the parts of the British and French governments if this iniquitous traffic be allowed under their flags after their intervention, only a few years ago to put a stop to Peruvian proceedings of the same character.[19]

Bully Hayes was killed by a crew mate in 1877.

Family[edit]

Powell arrived home on furlough in England on 10 May 1885. Though intending to return to Samoa, he died at Penzance, Cornwall, on 6 April 1887. Jane Emma died at Eltham, London, on 6 July 1890, aged 68. They are buried in St John the Baptist Churchyard, Eltham, along with one of their daughters—Hannah.[1]: 58–59 [20] Thomas and Jane Powell had at least seven children; their eldest daughter, Jane Anne (1846–1920), married wealthy James Spicer Jr. (1846–1915), who ran the wholesale paper merchants James Spicer & Sons Limited with his brother Sir Albert Spicer. James Spicer was named as Powell's executor in his will.

Legacy[edit]

Plant and animal genera and species named after Thomas Powell:

Publications[edit]

  • Powell, Thomas (1868). Seemann, Berthold (ed.). "On Various Samoan Plants and Their Vernacular Names". The Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. 6. London: L. Reeve and Co.: 342 – via BHL.
  • Powell, Thomas (May 1877). "On the Nature and Mode of Use of the Vegetable Poisons Employed by the Samoan Islanders". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 16 (89): 55–60. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1877.tb00171.x.
  • Powell, Thomas (28 May 1881). "Correspondence: Palolo". The Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette. Vol. 4, no. 199. p. 2.
  • Powell, Thomas (11 June 1881). "Erata: Palolo". The Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette. Vol. 4, no. 201. p. 2.
  • Powell, Thomas (1886). O le tala i tino o tagata ma mea ola eseese; e i ai foi o tala i manu ua ta'ua i le tusi paia. A Manual of Zoology; Embracing the Animals of Scripture; in the Samoan Dialect. Chilworth and London: Unwin Brothers.
  • Powell, Thomas (1887). "A Samoan Tradition of the Creation and Deluge". Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain. 20. London: Victoria Institute: 145–172 – via BHL.
  • Powell, Thomas (1887). "Description of the Samoan Islands". Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain. 20. London: Victoria Institute: 173–175 – via BHL.
  • Powell, Thomas (1892). Fraser, John (ed.). "The Samoan Story of Creation: A 'Tala'". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 1 (3). Translated by Pratt, George. Wellington: The Polynesian Society: 164–189 – via ISTA.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Sibree, James (1923). Register of Missionaries, Deputations, etc. from 1796 to 1923 (4th ed.). London: London Missionary Society.
  2. ^ "Powell, Thomas (1817–1887)". JSTOR: Global Plants. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London". 1886–1887. p. 428. Retrieved 11 November 2014 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "Powell, Thomas (c.1817–1887): "Register of Students, Hackney Theological Seminary (1803–1926)", Dr Williams's Library, MS NCL/79/1". Dissenting Academies Online. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  5. ^ "The Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List". The Ships List. Ancestry.com. 1844. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  6. ^ Munro, Doug; Thornley, Andrew (1996). The Covenant Makers: Islander Missionaries in the Pacific. Pacific Theological College. p. 48. ISBN 978-9820201262.
  7. ^ Garrett, John (1 January 1982). To Live Among the Stars: Christian Origins in Oceania. Suva, Fiji: Consul Oecumenique. p. 169. ISBN 978-2825406922.
  8. ^ Armstrong, Karen V. "The London Missionary Society Tutuila Mission" (PDF). American Samoa Historic Preservation Office. The American Samoa Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  9. ^ Mitten, William (1868). "A List of the Musci Collected by the Rev. Thomas Powell in the Samoa or Navigator's Islands. (Continued.)". Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany. 10 (44): 193–195. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1868.tb00436a.x.
  10. ^ Powell, Thomas (1868). Seemann, Berthold (ed.). "On Various Samoan Plants and Their Vernacular Names". Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. 6. London: West, Newman & Co.: 287. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Arrow Poison". The Northern Argus. Clare, SA: National Library of Australia. 11 October 1878. p. 4. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  12. ^ Darwin, Charles (2015). Burkhardt, Frederick; Secord, James A. (eds.). The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. Vol. 23 1875. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316473184. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  13. ^ Macpherson, Cluny; Macpherson, La'avasa (1 January 1990). Samoan Medical Belief and Practice. Auckland: Auckland University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-86940-045-3.
  14. ^ Powell, Thomas (1892). "The Samoan Story of Creation". Journal of the Polynesian Society. Wellington: The Polynesian Society. Retrieved 25 December 2015 – via Internet Sacred Text Archive.
  15. ^ Powell, Thomas (1886). O le tala i tino o tagata ma mea ola eseese. Unwin Brothers. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  16. ^ Macpherson, Cluny; Macpherson, La'avasa (1 January 1990). Samoan Medical Belief and Practice. Auckland: Auckland University Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-86940-045-3.
  17. ^ Fraser, John (September 1896). "Some Folk-songs and Myths from Samoa". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 5 (3 (19)). The Polynesian Society: 171–183. JSTOR 20701427.
  18. ^ a b Salvin, Osbert (1879). "On Some Birds transmitted from the Samoan Islands by the Rev. T. Powell". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1879. The Zoological Society of London: 128–131. Retrieved 26 December 2015 – via BHL.
  19. ^ Darch, John H., Missionaries as Humanitarians? Opposition to the Recruitment of Indentured Labour for Queensland in the 1860s and 70s (PDF), Nottingham: St John's College
  20. ^ "Death of the Rev. Thomas Powell". Kerang Times and Swan Hill Gazette. No. 835. 19 April 1887 – via Trove.
  21. ^ Mitten, William (1869). "A List of the Musci Collected by the Rev.Thomas Powell in the Samoa or Navigator's Islands" (PDF). Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. 10 (43). London: Lomgmans, Green, Reader and Dyer: 166–195.
  22. ^ Powell, Thomas (1868). Seemann, Berthold (ed.). "On Various Samoan Plants and Their Vernacular Names". The Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. 6. London: L. Reeve and Co.: 342 – via BHL.
  23. ^ "Faradaya powellii Seem. ex Powell". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  24. ^ a b c Hooker, William Jackson; Baker, John Gilbert (1868). Synopsis Filicum; or, A Synopsis of All Known Ferns, Including the Osmundaceae, Schizaeaceae, Marattiaceae, and Ophioglassaceae. Vol. copy 1. London: Robert Hardwicke – via BHL.
  25. ^ "Trichomanes powellii Baker". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Phymatosorus powellii (Baker) Pic.Serm". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  27. ^ Beccari, Odorado (1914). Martelli, Ugolino (ed.). "Manipolo di Palme Nuove Polinesiane Conservate nell' Erbario di Kew". Webbia: Raccolta di Scritti Botanici. 4 (2). Firenze: Istituto botanico dell'Università di Firenze: 253–291 – via BHL.

External links[edit]

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