J. A. Harvie Brown

John Alexander Harvie-Brown was born in Edinburgh and, after studying at Edinburgh and Cambridge universities, he inherited the family estates in Stirlingshire. A genial host and popular with his tenants, he was active in public life and gave generously to charity. A large, powerfully-built man with a broad and bearded face, he was a great talker, a fund of anecdote and full of humour.

With private means, Harvie-Brown was able to indulge in his particular passions – fishing, shooting and collecting. Although an excellent shot, he accidentally blew off the top of his thumb; while on another occasion, a reckless companion shot him in the ankle. He submitted his first of countless natural history notes at the age of 18.

Recognising the knowledge and experience of local people, Harvie-Brown pioneered the use of questionnaires to landowners, gamekeepers, sportsmen, shepherds and lighthouse-keepers throughout the country. His detailed monograph on the Capercaillie was published in 1879 followed, two years later, by another on the red squirrel. The latter selling out so quickly that even Queen Victoria had difficulty procuring a copy!

All his life he maintained a prodigious correspondence and was also able to write authoritatively on common species such as brown trout, great spotted woodpeckers, stock doves, rooks, fulmar and starlings. In 1892 he founded the Annals of Scottish Natural History.