Joshua Alder

{{short description|British cheesemonger and amateur zoologist (1792-1867)}} {{about|the zoologist|Joshua Allder (1838–1904), founder of the Croydon department store|Allders}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Joshua Alder |birth_name = |image = Joshua Alder (1792 - 1867).jpg |alt = |caption = Sketch of Alder from "Men of mark 'twixt Tyne and Tweed" by Richard Welford, 1895 |birth_date = {{birth date|1792|4|7|df=y}} |birth_place = Newcastle upon Tyne, England |death_date = {{death date and age|1867|1|21|1792|4|7|df=yes}} |death_place = |residence = |citizenship = British |nationality = |ethnicity = |fields = zoologist |occupation = Cheesemonger |workplaces = |doctoral_advisor = |academic_advisors = |doctoral_students = |notable_students = |known_for = |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |awards = |signature = |signature_alt = |footnotes = |spouse = |children = }}

'''Joshua Alder ''' (7 April 1792 – 21 January 1867)<ref>Coan E. V., Kabat A. R. & Petit R. E. (15 February 2009). [http://www.malacological.org/publications/2400_malacology.html ''2,400 years of malacology, 6th ed.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005154552/http://www.malacological.org/publications/2400_malacology.html |date=5 October 2018 }}, 830 pp. + 32 pp. [Annex of Collations]. American Malacological Society.</ref> was a British cheesemonger and amateur zoologist and malacologist. As such, he specialized in the Tunicata, and in gastropods.

He was a member of the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham, and an early member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, alongside Joseph Swan and Robert Stephenson.<ref name="AHTT" /> He corresponded with Charles Darwin.<ref name="AHTT" />

His drawings are in the collections of the Great North Museum: Hancock and the British Museum.<ref name="Plaque">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news/lord-mayor-joined-bbc-presenter-plaque-unveiling|title=Lord Mayor joined by BBC presenter for plaque unveiling|publisher=Newcastle City Council|access-date=2019-03-20|archive-date=10 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410175418/https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news/lord-mayor-joined-bbc-presenter-plaque-unveiling|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Ravensworth Terrace ==

From 1841 to 1857 Alder was a tenant at 5 Ravensworth Terrace in the Summerhill area of Newcastle upon Tyne, which he shared with his sister Mary, a woman of independent means, and their two female servants.<ref name="AHTT">{{Cite episode |title=Episode 1 — Series 2 |series=A House Through Time |series-link=A House Through Time |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00041qb |network=BBC Television |date=8 April 2019 |series-no=2 |number=1 }}</ref>

During this time, he ran a cheese shop in The Side, a street in central Newcastle.<ref name="AHTT" /> He sold that business and became a shareholder in the Northumberland District Bank, and a gentleman of leisure.<ref name="AHTT" /> A financial crash in 1857 led to the collapse of the bank, and Alder faced ruin.<ref name="AHTT" /> He and Mary were forced to leave Ravensworth Terrace, moving to a smaller house, still extant, in nearby Summerhill Terrace, where he was supported by his sister.<ref name="AHTT" /> In 1863 he wrote to his co-author Albany Hancock of his relief at being awarded a pension of £70 from the civil list by Lord Palmerston at the behest of his scientific colleagues, allowing him to resume his research.<ref name="AHTT" />

An obituary noted that he was "everywhere accompanied" by his sister, who "assisted him in his studies and was, in short, essential to his life and health".<ref name="AHTT" />

Alder is profiled in the first episode of the second series of ''A House Through Time'', first shown in April 2019.<ref name="AHTT" /> As a result of research conducted for the programme, a plaque commemorating Alder was unveiled there on 26 September 2018 by presenter David Olusoga and the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, David Down.<ref name="Plaque" /> The house has been Grade II listed since June 1976.<ref name="HE-1107928"> {{NHLE |num=1107928 |desc=5, Ravensworth Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne |grade=II |accessdate=9 April 2019 }}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

thumb|upright|Plate from ''British Tunicata''

* Alder J. (1838). "Supplement to a catalogue of the land and fresh-water testaceous Mollusca, found in the vicinity of Newcastle". ''Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham'' '''1'''(3): 337–342. Newcastle. * {{cite journal | author=Alder J.| title=Observations on the genus ''Polycera'' of Cuvier, with descriptions of two new British species| journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History| year=1841| volume=6| issue=38| pages=337–342| doi=10.1080/03745484109442937| url=https://zenodo.org/record/1430554}} * Alder J. & Hancock A. (1845–1855). ''A Monograph of the British Nudibranchiate Mollusca: with figures of all the species''. The Ray Society, London. Published in 8 parts: ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1845) part 1. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/65015#/summary online] ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1846) part 2. ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1847) part 3. ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1848) part 4. ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1851) part 5. ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1854) part 6. ** Alder J. & Hancock A. (1855) part 7. ** Eliot E. (1910) part 8 (suppl.) * Alder J. & Hancock A. (October 1851). "Descriptions of two new species of nudibranchiate Mollusca, one of them forming the type of a new genus". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', [https://archive.org/details/annalsmagazineof28lond 2nd ser., '''8'''] (46): [https://archive.org/stream/annalsmagazineof28lond#page/290/mode/2up 290]–302, pls. 9–10. *Alder, Joshua, Embleton, Dennis, Hancock, Albany, Hopkinson, John, Norman, Alfred Merle, 1905–12 ''The British Tunicata; an unfinished monograph, by the late Joshua Alder and the late Albany Hancock. Edited by John Hopkinson, with a history of the work by the Rev. A. M. Norman''. London. Printed for the Ray Society.

A contemporary review described the ''Monograph of the British Nudibranchiate Mollusca'' as "one of the most admirable monographs which has ever appeared in this or any other country".<ref name="AHTT" /> Prince Albert is known to have owned a copy.<ref name="AHTT" />

== Taxa described ==

Alder discovered over 100 marine species, new to science.<ref name="AHTT" />

Names or synonyms of hydroids described by Alder include:<ref>WoRMS Editorial Board (2024). World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ. Accessed 2024-01-23. doi:10.14284/170</ref>

* ''Dicoryne conferta'' (Alder, 1856) * ''Eudendrium capillare'' Alder, 1856 * ''Hydractinia areolata'' Alder, 1862 * ''Corymorpha nana'' Alder, 1857 * ''Campanularia hincksii'' Alder, 1856 * ''Laomedea flexuosa'' Alder, 1857 * ''Laomedea neglecta'' Alder, 1856 * ''Halecium nanum'' Alder, 1859

Gastropod taxa described by Alder include:

* ''Ancula cristata'' (Alder, 1841)<ref name="AHTT" /> * Polyceroidea Alder & Hancock, 1845 * ''Fiona'' Alder & Hancock, 1851 * ''Chromodoris'' Alder & Hancock, 1855

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{commons category}} {{DNB Poster|Alder, Joshua|Joshua Alder}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Joshua Alder}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120426000405/http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/news/cms/joshua-alder-1792-1867/ Joshua Alder] at the Natural History Society of Northumbria * {{in lang|ja}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608045828/http://www.geocities.jp/opisthobranchialsocietyofjapan/Alder_and_Hancock.html Joshua Alder (1792-1867) and Albany Hancock (1806-1873)] Bibliography * Works by Joshua Alder at AnimalBase [http://www.animalbase.org/] digitized literature (includes ''A monograph of the British nudibranchiate, A catalogue of the land and fresh-water testaceous Mollusca found in the vicinity of Newcastle upon Tyne, with remarks, Notes on the land and fresh water Mollusca of Great Britain, with a revised list of species, Supplement to a catalogue of the land and fresh-water testaceous Mollusca, found in the vicinity of Newcastle, A catalogue of the Mollusca of Northumberland and Durham'') * [https://newcastlemagazine.com/newcastle-house-that-starred-in-bbc-series-gets-commemorative-plaque-75518/ "Newcastle House That Starred in BBC Series Gets Commemorative Plaque"] at newcastlemagazine.com, with photograph of Alder

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alder, Joshua}} Category:1792 births Category:1867 deaths Category:19th-century British zoologists Category:English malacologists Category:Scientists from Newcastle upon Tyne