Charles Davies Sherborn

Who was Charles Davies Sherborn?

Charles Davies Sherborn was an English taxonomist. The eldest son of Charles William Sherborn, an engraver and member of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers, and his wife Hannah, Sherborn was a descendant of the Sherborn family who owned Fawns Manor, Bedfont since the 17th century. In the course of researching his family history, he came into contact with William Sherborn, his fourth cousin once removed, still in possession of the Manor, and on William's death in 1912 came into ownership of the Manor, although he never took up residence there, preferring to remain in Fulham. On Charles Davies Sherborn's own death in 1942, the Manor was inherited by his nephew Ronald Thorne Sherborn, father of the conservationist Derek Sherborn.

Sherborn wrote Index Animalium, an 11 volume, 9,000 page work that catalogued the 444,000 names of every living and extinct animal discovered between 1758 and 1850. Sherborn was the first president of the Society for the History of Natural History, 1936–1942.