Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Day, Francis (1829-1889)
DAY, FRANCIS (1829–1889), ichthyologist, third son of William Day of Hadlow House, Maresfield, Sussex, by his wife Ann Le Blanc, was born there on 2 March 1829. He was educated under Dr. Kennedy at Shrewsbury school, and studied medicine at St. George's Hospital, London, taking his M.R.C.S. in 1851. He entered the Madras medical service in 1852, and served through the second Burmese war.
An enthusiastic naturalist, and especially devoted to ichthyology, Day seized every opportunity for extending his knowledge of the fish-fauna of the countries he passed through, and was ultimately appointed inspector-general of fisheries in India. In that capacity he was author of many valuable reports published between 1865 and 1877.
He was promoted surgeon-major on 26 Feb. 1872, and retired with the rank of deputy surgeon-general on 1 Nov. 1876. Returning to England he settled at Cheltenham, where he continued his ichthyological studies. He took part in various exhibitions, and his exhibits received a silver medal at Paris in 1875, a bronze medal at Berlin in 1880, a silver medal at Norwich in 1881, a gold and a silver medal at Edinburgh in 1882, and three gold medals at London in 1883. Of this last exhibition he was appointed commissioner for the Indian department, and besides the medals received a 100. prize for a treatise on 'The Commercial Sea Fishes of Great Britain.' He was also awarded a silver medal by the 'Societé d'Acclimatation' of Paris in 1872.
He was made C.I.E. on 6 June 1885, and also received the cross of the crown of Italy. He was created an honorary LL.D. of Edinburgh on 18 April 1889, had been elected a fellow of the Zoological Society in 1864, and the Linnean Society in 1857. He died at Cheltenham on 10 July 1889.
Day married twice: first, on 3 Nov. 1857, Emma (d. 1869), daughter of Dr. Charles Covey of Basingstoke; and, secondly, on 13 April 1872, Emily (d. 1873), youngest daughter of the Rev. Thomas Sheepshanks, vicar of St. John's, Coventry.
Collections formed by Day are preserved in the British Museum (Natural History), and at Cambridge, Calcutta, Leyden, Berlin, Florence, and Sydney.
In addition to more than seventy papers contributed to various scientific journals from 1861 onwards, Day was the author of: 1. 'The Land of the Per'mauls,' Madras, 1863, 8vo. 2. 'Tropical Fevers, Non-Malarial Division' [Madras? 1863, 8vo]. 3. 'The Fishes of Malabar,' London, 1805, 4to. 4. 'Report on the Freshwater Fish and Fisheries of India and Birma,' Calcutta, 1873, 8vo. 5. ' The Fishes of India,' London, 1875-1888, 2 vols. 4to. 6. 'The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland,' London and Edinburgh, 1880-84, 2 vols. 8vo. 7. 'Notes on the Line and Herring Fisheries of the North-East of Scotland' [anon.] [London, 1882], 12mo. 8. 'Catalogue of the Exhibits in the Indian Section Great International Fisheries Exhibition,' London, 1883, 8vo. 9. ' Indian Fish and Fishing,' London, 1883, 8vo. 10. 'Fish Culture,' London, 1883, 8vo. 11. 'On the Food of Fishes,' London, 1883, 8vo. 12. ' The Commercial Sea Fishes of Great Britain,' London, 1883, 8vo. 13. 'British and Irish Salmonidse,' London and Edinburgh, 1887, 8vo.
He also contributed sections to other works as follows: 1. 'The Sea Fishes of India and Burma' to a 'Report on Sea Fish and Fisheries,' 1873. 2. 'Ichthyology' to the 'Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission,' 1878. 3. 'Fishes' to 'The Fauna of British India,' 1889. 4. 'Cyclopium Cyclopum' to Whymper's 'Great Andes,' 1891.
[Proc. Cotteswold Nat. Field Club, x. 2; Proc. Linn. Soc. 1888-90, pp. 75, 96; private information; Natural Hist. Mus. Cat.; Royal Society's Cat.]