JACKSON P C: Difference between revisions

Dr Arthur RandallRandell Jackson (his father 1877-1944) is sometimes known as the “Father of British Arachnology”. He was born in Southport studied Zoology and then Medicine at Liverpool before setting up a practise originally in the Rhondda Valley and then Hexham but moving to Chester in 1905, where he lived at "Westcote" (now one half of the Bawn Lodge}. Described by compatriots as of rugged build both strong and tough he could be cynical but kind and sensitive. As a GP he was noted for his accuracy in diagnosis. He described himself as a “….cyclist, spider hunter and bird watcher.” He was a distinguished amateur scientist and became an acknowledged expert on British spiders discovering 47 new species. He wrote a number of papers and books on the subject and won the Charles Kingsley Medal for his work.

* '''"WITH the death of Dr. A. Randall (sic) Jackson at his home in Chester on March 18 we lose our leading British systematic arachnologist. Despite a busy medical practice, he always found time to provide unstinted help to numerous correspondents in the identification of their collections of British and Arctic spiders, phalangids and chelonethids. This flair for diagnosis has never been surpassed. It enabled him both to straighten out the synonymic muddles created by other workers and also to add many species to the British list. Despite the constant pleadings of his friends, he published comparatively few papers and, as these were often in obscure journals, the excellence of his work never gained the wide recognition it deserved."'''