Couch, Jonathan, 1789-1870
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Couch, Jonathan, 1789-1870
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Couch, Jonathan, 1789-1870
Couch, Jonathan
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Couch, Jonathan
Couch, Jonathan (English naturalist and draftsman, 1789-1870)
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Couch, Jonathan (English naturalist and draftsman, 1789-1870)
Couch, Jonathan, Surgeon
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Couch, Jonathan, Surgeon
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Jonathan Couch
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Jonathan Couch
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Biographical History
Epithet: Surgeon
Jonathan Couch was an English naturalist and physician from the fishing village of Polperro in Cornwall.
In many ways, Jonathan Couch was a prototype of the Victorian provincial naturalist, a trained physician whose eclectic, but intensely local interests ran from the life sciences to geology, folk beliefs, and local history. The only child of Richard Couch and Phillipa Minards, Couch was born on March 15, 1789, at Polperro, a fishing village on the Cornish coast. After receiving a sound classical education at the Dame School and later at Bodmin Grammar School, Couch began a medical apprenticeship under Dr. John Rice of East Looe in 1803, and from 1808 to 1810, he completed his medical studies at the united St. Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital in London. Returning to Polperro to practice medicine, Couch seldom again left Cornwall.
Despite the burdens of a busy medical practice, Couch began exploring an array of topics of antiquarian and natural historical interest from almost the moment of his return home. Bracketed by a profoundly local perspective, his interests ran the gamut from history and archaeology to Cornish folk beliefs, dialect, and the local flora and fauna. He became best known for his work on the life-blood of Polperro, its fisheries. Training the local fishermen to make natural historical observations and to assist him in bringing in rare specimens, Couch dissected and illustrated hundreds of fish over more than three decades of research, taking meticulous care to depict the colors of the live fish as accurately as possible. In recognition of his contributions, he was made a fellow of the Linnaean Society.
Couch was a regular contributor to several journals, including the Imperial Magazine, the Transactions and Proceedings of the Linnaean Society, and the Annals and Magazine of Natural History . His major publications include A Cornish Fauna (Truro, 1838, 1841), a three-volume translation of Pliny's Natural History (London, 1847-1849) published by the Wernerian Club of London, and the posthumously published The History of Polperro (Truro, 1871). His most important publication was the exhaustive four-volume History of the Fishes of the British Islands (London, 1860-1865), a seminal work that contained over 250 colored plates.
Thrice married, Couch was followed in medicine by all three of his sons, and his eldest son, Richard Quiller Couch, became a noted naturalist in his own right. Couch died in Polperro in 1870 at the age of 81.
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https://viaf.org/viaf/50009533
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no94009303
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/no94009303
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6272822
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Languages Used
Subjects
Astronomy
Beyond Early America
Conchology
Creationism
Crustacea
Developmental biology
Dreams
Electricity
Evolution (Biology)
Fisheries
Fishery law and legislation
Fishes
Fishes
Fishes
Flags
Human evolution
Ichthyology
Instinct
Mythology
Natural history
Natural history
Navigation
Physics
Public health
Signals and signaling
Spiders
Superstition
Superstition
Zoology
Zoology
Nationalities
Britons
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England
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Stirling, Scotland
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Bishop Wearmouth, Durham
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Cornwall
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Sheffield, Yorkshire
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Birkenhead, Cheshire
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England--Cornwall
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Great Britain
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England
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Malmesbury, Wiltshire
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Wissett, Suffolk
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England--Cornwall (County)
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England--Cornwall (County)
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<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>