>Citation bot at 21:34, 6 April 2021

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{{short description|English botanist (1847-1925)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = James Sykes Gamble
| image = James Sykes Gamble.png
| image_size =
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| caption = James Sykes Gamble
| birth_date = 2 July 1847
| birth_place = [[London]]
| death_date = {{d-da|16 October 1925|2 July 1847}}
| death_place = Haslemere, West Sussex
| residence =
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| fields = [[Botany]]
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| notable_students =
| known_for = The book ''A Manual of Indian Timbers''
| author_abbrev_bot =
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| awards = [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
'''James Sykes Gamble''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CIE|FRS|FLS}} (2 July 1847 – 16 October 1925) was an English [[botany|botanist]] who specialized in the flora of the [[Indian sub-continent]]; he became Director of the British [[Imperial Forest School]] at [[Dehradun]], and a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].

==Early life and education==
Gamble was born at [[Portland Place]], London, the second son of Harpur Gamble, M.D., [[Royal Navy|R.N.]] and Isabella. He completed his formal education at the [[Royal Naval School]], [[New Cross]], before going up to [[Oxford]], where he attended [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]], studying mathematics, at which he excelled, gaining a First in the Final Schools in 1868. In the same year, he sat for the Indian Civil Service examinations, and gained an appointment in the Indian Forest Department the following year. Gamble later studied at the ''[[French National School of Forestry|École nationale des eaux et forêts]]'', [[Nancy, France|Nancy]] (1869-1871) where he gained an interest in taxonomy.<ref name=Proceedings>Obituary: James Sykes Gamble 1847-1925. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London''. pp. xxxviii - xliii. Vol.99, No.699 (May 1, 1926).</ref><ref name=kew />

==Career==
Gamble sailed for [[India]] in 1871 to join the [[Imperial Forest Department]],<ref>{{cite magazine|title=GAMBLE, James Sykes|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=655|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA655}}</ref> and ultimately became Director of the Imperial Forest School at Dehradun.<ref>{{cite journal|title=obit. Mr. J. S. Sykes, C.I.E., F.R.S.|journal=Nature|volume=116|date=7 November 1925|pages=684–685|doi=10.1038/116684a0|issue=2923|doi-access=free}}</ref> His first posting was in Burma but after a year he moved to Bengal where he worked in the Darjeeling forests. Here he produced the first list of the trees and shrubs of Darjeeling. From 1872 to 1877 he worked mostly in the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri area with short visits to Allahabad and Shimla. In 1877 he moved to the capital in Shimla where he worked on the local flora. In 1879 he moved back to Calcutta and travelled around the Sunderbans, Chota Nagpore, Santal Parganas and Orissa regions. He worked along with his colleague [[Sulpiz Kurz]] at the Calcutta Herbarium and Dr [[George King (botanist)|George King]]. In 1890, Gamble founded the Forest School Herbarium (renamed the [[Dehradun Herbarium]] in 1908). In 1882 he was made Conservator in the Madras Presidency and here he worked in collaboration with W. A. Talbot of the Bombay Presidency. During this time he took an interest in the cultivation of ''Eucalyptus globulus'' in the Nilgiris. In 1890 he moved to the North-West Provinces and became Director of the Forest School in Dehra Dun. He stayed in this post until his retirement in 1899. At Dehra Dun he developed his collections, adding from the Himalayan regions and also receiving specimens from J.F. Duthie and C.G. Rogers. This collection was described by Sir George King in 1899 as "probably the largest collection of plants ever owned in India." After his retirement Gamble also collected at the Cape of Good Hope in 1890 and from Switzerland, Italy, Sardinia, Malta, Gibraltar and South Norway.<ref name=kew /> He was appointed CIE in the [[1899 Birthday Honours]]

After retirement he continued to work on forestry, helping found the Forestry School at Oxford. His collection of nearly 50,000 specimens were gifted to Kew.<ref name=kew>{{cite journal|title=Miscellaneous Notes.|journal= Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)|year=1925|volume= 1925|issue=10|pages=433–440|jstor=4115105}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Gamble Herbarium| journal=Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)|year=1926| volume=1926|issue=1| pages=12–17| doi=10.2307/4114317|jstor=114317}}</ref>

Author of several books, his [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]] was ''A Manual of Indian Timbers''. He was also the author of many papers on [[forestry]] and botanical subjects in the ''[[Indian Forester]]'', of which he was a founding editor. Another major work was the ''Flora of the Presidency of Madras'' (1915) of which five parts were published during his lifetime and he was working on the seventh at the time of his death. This was a major work and required obtaining specimens from the botanical gardens at Calcutta, the forest herbarium at Travancore, the Agricultural College at Coimbatore and the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh. He also made use of the specimens in the Madras Herbarium at Kew presented by Sir [[Alfred Gibbs Bourne|Alfred Gibbs]] and Lady Bourne.<ref name=kew /> The work was completed by C.E.C. Fischer. It remains a major guide for the region.<ref name=rs />

==Other works==
* ''[[iarchive:listtreesshrubs00gambgoog|List of the trees, shrubs and large climbers found in the Darjeeling District, Bengal]]'', (1st ed. 1877; 1878; 2nd ed. 1896), Bengal.
* ''[[iarchive:manualofindiant00gamb|A Manual of Indian Timbers]]'': An Account of the Growth, Distribution and Uses of the Trees and Shrubs of India and Ceylon with Description of Their Wood-Structure. (1881; 1902).
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26254023 ''The Bambuseae of British India'']. Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden Calcutta, (1896), 133 pp.]
* ''Flora of the Presidency of Madras'' (1915–21, continued after his death by C.E.C. Fischer)
** [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/21628 Volume 1 - Ranunculaceae to Caprifoliaceae].
** [https://archive.org/details/FloraOfThePresidencyOfMadras2 Volume 2 - Rubiaceae to Euphorbiaceae].
** [https://archive.org/details/FloraOfThePresidencyOfMadras3 Volume 3 - Ulmaceae to Gramineae. Addenda, indexes, etc.]

==Retirement and marriage==
Gamble retired to the UK in 1899, settling at Highfield, [[Liss (England)|Liss, Hampshire]], where he planted 72 acres with exotic trees, using many of the seeds he had collected. In 1911, he married Gertrude Latter.<ref name=Proceedings/>

==Death==
Gamble died aged 78 on 16 October 1925 at the College Hospital, Haslemere, a few days after a surgery.<ref name=Proceedings/>

==Honours==
In 1899, Gamble was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, his candidature citation describing him as: 'Conservator of Forests, School Circle, NW Provinces, India, and Director of the Imperial Forest School, Dehra Dunn. Fellow of the [[University of Madras]], and ''ex officio'' Fellow of the [[University of Allahabad]]...'<ref name=rs>{{cite web| url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27gamble%27%29| title= Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher= Royal Society| access-date= 31 January 2011}}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== Notes==
{{botanist|Gamble|Gamble}}
NB: Gamble is listed erroneously as J. H. Gamble in some treatises.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [https://archive.org/stream/manualofindianti00gambuoft#page/n5/mode/2up A manual of Indian timbers (1881)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamble, James Sykes}}
[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Marylebone]]
[[Category:Scholars from Dehradun]]
[[Category:Botanists with author abbreviations]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London]]
[[Category:English botanists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of the French National School of Forestry]]
[[Category:Imperial Forestry Service officers]]
[[Category:Forestry in India]]
[[Category:Forestry academics]]
[[Category:History of forestry education]]
[[Category:English foresters]]
[[Category:Scientists from London]]

James Sykes Gamble - Revision history

>Citation bot at 21:34, 6 April 2021