October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

John Edmonstone was born into slavery, probably in Demerara, British Guiana, in the late eighteenth century, but later gained his freedom. He learned taxidermy from Charles Waterton, who used to visit Charles Edmonstone at his plantation in Demerara. Waterton took John under his wing and taught him taxidermy or in his own words, ‘the proper way to stuff birds.’ The two would travel together on expeditions into the rainforest and John would learn the skills he would go on to teach Darwin.

After he was freed in 1817, Edmonstone came to Glasgow with his former master, Charles Edmonstone. From there he moved to Edinburgh, where he earned a living stuffing birds at the Natural Museum and taught taxidermy to students at the University of Edinburgh.

In 1825, Darwin came to Edinburgh to study medicine. Having changed his mind about making his future as a doctor or surgeon, Darwin took lessons from Edmonstone on bird taxidermy.

It has been suggested this this is how Darwin’s interest in naturalism began, and that it inspired him to explore the tropics. Within five years, Darwin was on the HMS Beagle as the ship’s naturalist for its famous voyage in 1831 to South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

More about John Edmonstone at https://www.history.co.uk/shows/not-what-you-thought-you-knew/articles/john-edmonstone-%25E2%2580%2593-the-man-who-taught-darwin