Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jerdon, Thomas Claverhill
JERDON, THOMAS CLAVERHILL (1811–1872), zoologist, son of Archibald Jerdon of Bonjedward, Roxburghshire, was born in 1811. He received his first appointment as assistant-surgeon in the Madras service in 1835, and began an assiduous study of the birds of India. In 1844 he brought out his ‘Illustrations of Indian Ornithology;’ and his later work, ‘Birds of India,’ 1862–4, has been described as of inestimable value. He came home in 1864, and died 12 June 1872 at Upper Norwood, Surrey. Another work, the ‘Mammals of India,’ 1867, reached a second edition in 1874. The botanical genus Jerdonia was named in his honour by his old friend and fellow-officer, Dr. Wight. His younger brother, Archibald (1819–1874), was also a naturalist. He first published notes in the ‘Zoologist’ in 1841, and died at Allerton, near Jedburgh, in February 1874 (Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb. xii. 201).
[Proc. Linn. Soc. 1872–3, p. 32.]