Burchell, William John

Chronology 
Date
Age
Event
23 Jul 1781
 
 Born in Fulham, London, England. He was the only son of Matthew Burchell, botanist and owner of Fulham Nursery.
17??
 
 Educated at Raleigh House Academy, Mitcham, Surrey. Developed interest in botany.
17??
 
 Continued his studies at Kew Gardens; also received teaching in drawing and painting.
1803
22
 Elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society.
1805
24
 Formed a partnership with William Balcombe as a merchant to St Helena but after 6 months dissolved the partnership and became a schoolmaster on the island.
1807
26
 Appointed by the East India Company as naturalist on St Helena and superintendent of a new botanical garden he was going to set up. However, a change of governors on the island upset these plans and he resigned his post.
10 Oct 1810
29
 Sailed for Cape Town. Stayed with Rev. C.H.F. Hesse in what is now known as Martin Melck House. He made preparations for exploration into the interior and went on some short trips as far as Tulbagh and Caledon.
19 Jun 1811
nearly 30
 Set out on his explorations in his custom-made waggon.
30 Sep 1811
30
 Arrived at the mission station of Klaarwater (Griquatown) which he made his base for several expeditions until he left for Graaff-Reinet in January 1813.
25 Mar 1813
31
 Arrived in Graaff-Reinet. Went on to Grahamstown and stayed there for five weeks. Visited Fish River, Kowie and Uitenhage and then made his way to Cape Town along the coast road.
Apr 1815
33
 Arrived back in Cape Town. "Burchell covered a vast and varied stretch of country, amassing a total of 63000 specimens, including about 50000 plant specimens, skins, skeletons, insects, live seeds, bulbs, and fish which had been preserved. Besides this, he made accurate and pleasing sketches along the way, annotated his collections copiously, compiled a Catalogus geographicus of his route and the collecting areas, and described new genera and species. Perhaps even more important than this, his ecological and phytogeographical notes, detailed and accurate, are still among the few written descriptions of the vegetation in certain areas of Southern Africa." (Gordon-Brown & Böeseken, 1972)
Aug 1815
34
 Sailed for England via St Helena and arrived on 11 November 1815.
1816-1819
35-38
 Spent these years at his home in Fulham processing the material he had collected.
1819-1822
38-41
 Retired to the country near Sevenoaks and produced the first two volumes of his Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa (London 1822, 1824). The third and final volume never materialised; volume 2 ends on 3 August 1812 when he was at Dithakong.
1825
44
 Sailed for Lisbon, stayed there for two months, and then travelled to Rio de Janeiro, arriving there in July 1825. Collected widely in Brazil.
24 Mar 1830
48
 Arrived back in England and found that his father had died two years previously. Settled in Fulham and worked on his extensive collections but did not publish anything more. Became "an aloof and isolated figure".
23 Mar 1863
82
 Died by his own hand having been an invalid for the last two years.

 Specimens collected

"His sister, Anna Burchell, presented his botanical collections, drawings and manuscripts, both South African and Brazilian, to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the entomological collections, drawings and manuscripts were given to the Hope Department, University Museum, Oxford." (Gordon-Brown & Böeseken, 1972)