Item 52 - Letter from Frank Buckland to Prince Christian Schleswig-Holstein

Better known as Frank Buckland, he was an English surgeon, zoologist, author and natural historian. He was born in a noted family of naturalists. Frank was the first son of Canon William Buckland, a geologist and palaeontologist, and Mary Morland, a fossil collector.

He studied surgery under Caesar Hawkins at St George's Hospital. During this time he became acquainted with Abraham Dee Bartlett, Superintendent of London Zoo, who would send him dead animals at the zoo and he continued to keep many animals. Buckland was made a MRCS in 1851. He was appointed House Surgeon at St George's in 1852. He left St George's in 1853 and in August 1854 he joined the 2nd Life Guards as an assistant surgeon. This appointment left him time for his growing interest in natural history. Buckland gradually gave up medicine and surgery to devote himself to natural history and he was a pioneer of zoöphagy. He was one of the key members and founded of the acclimatisation society in Britain, an organisation that supported the introduction of new plants and animals as food sources which was influenced by his interest in eating and tasting a range of exotic animal meats.