Frederick William Styan

English naturalist and tea merchant in China
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroEnglish naturalist and tea merchant in China
A.K.A.F.W. Styan Styan, F. W. Styan
A.K.A.F.W. Styan Styan, F. W. Styan
PlacesUnited Kingdom
wasMerchant Businessperson Naturalist Zoologist Scientist
Work fieldBiology Business Science Social science
Gender
Male
Birth1838, London, Kingdom of Wessex, UK
Death15 September 1934 (aged 96 years)
The details

Biography

Frederick William Styan (1858 – 15 September 1934) was an English tea merchant who spent many years in China. During his stay he obtained numerous specimens of fauna which were donated to the British Museum (Natural History). Several species such as Styan's bulbul are named after him.

Styan was born in London to Thomas Styan (1819-1899) and Frances Sarah Lake (1823-1924). He worked as a clerk for Robert Anderson and Co. tea traders in Shanghai and Fuzhou from 1895 to 1903. His father was also a naturalist and collector of bird specimens which were bequeathed to his son. Along with J.D. La Touche and Charles Boughey Rickett they went on several expeditions to collect natural history specimens in China. Some were deposited in the museum in Shanghai while others were sent to the natural history museum in London. Styan maintained a personal collection of bird skins which he once displayed at the North China Insurance Company on Hankow Road in Shanghai. He also served as an honorary curator of the Shanghai Museum. He published a few notes on the birds of China. Paralysis led to his leaving China and returning to England. Most of his specimens found their way to the Natural History Museum collections either directly or via the collections of Styan's friend John Kershaw.

Styan is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Chinese snake, Plagiopholis styani.

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 16 Nov 2024. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.