‘Obliging and curious’: Taylor White (1701–1772) and his remarkable collections

Taylor White (1701–1772) was by profession a barrister and judge, active in public life London. His as jurist the long-serving treasurer of Foundling Hospital is documented records his appointments own official correspondence. This article reveals other White, Fellow Royal Society (1725), an participant practice science mid eighteenth century. accumulated significant collection specimens drawings plants, insects, birds mammals. Over 900 zoological are preserved Blacker Wood Natural History Collection at McGill University Montreal. White's passions for natural history collecting revealed tangentially through very few letters hand, notes he made about collection, infrequent references books friends fellow naturalists. seeks not only to document sources but also extract narrative acquisition, transport exchange that informal networks eighteenth-century naturalists, which included scientists sailors, merchants curious lawyers. It explores work motivations collector engaged building reference animal portraits, painted their true colours ‘the size life’. Close study this positions within community naturalists provides deeply textured exploration age Linnaeus.