| AdminHistory | Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther (also known as Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther) (1830 – 1914) was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist.
Günther was born in Esslingen in Swabia (Württemberg) on 3 October 1830 to Friedrich Gotthilf Günther (1800–1835?) and Eleanore Louise née Nagle (1806–1899). His father was a Stiftungs-Commissar in Esslingen. He initially schooled at the Stuttgart Gymnasium. Following his family's wishes, he initially trained for the ministry of the Lutheran church, so moved to the University of Tübingen, however he later shifted from theology to medicine and science in 1852. He graduated in medicine with an M.D. from Tübingen in 1858, the same year in which he published a handbook of zoology for students of medicine. His mother moved to England, and when he visited the country in 1855, he met John Edward Gray and Professor Richard Owen at the British Museum. This led to an offer to work at the British Museum in 1857, where his first task was to classify 2000 snake specimens. Following the death of John Edward Gray in 1875, Günther was appointed Keeper of Zoology at the Natural History Museum, a position he held until 1895. The major work of his life was the eight-volume Catalogue of Fishes (1859–1870, Ray Society). He also worked on the reptiles and amphibians in the museum collection. In 1864, he founded the Record of Zoological Literature and served as editor for six years. He was one of the editors for the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for more than thirty years.
Günther was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1867 and served as vice-president 1875–6. He served on the council of the Zoological Society for nearly 40 years (1868–1905). He was elected a fellow of the Linnaean Society in 1877, and was president 1896–1900. He married Roberta Mitchell née McIntosh (1842–1869), sister of William M'Intosh, in 1868 and they had one son, the historian Robert William Theodore Günther (1869–1940). In 1879 he married again, to Theodora Dowrish née Drake (1863–1944). They had a son Frederic Albert Günther (1883–1953), a merchant; and a daughter Theodora Alberta Günther (1889–1908) who died aged nineteen. He became a naturalised British citizen in 1874. Günther died at Kew Gardens on 1 February 1914. |
| Description | Photocopies of correspondence of Albert C.L.G. Günther. Correspondents include:
- Thomas H. Huxley to Günther (6 letters) dated 26 June 1867 - 16 March 1871
- Gray to Huxley (1 letter)
- Emily Graf & Owen Günther (1 letter)
- Günther to Huxley (4 letters)
- Wallace to Günther (5 letters + 1 postcard)
- Charles Darwin to Gray (2 letters)
- Charles Darwin to Günther (28 letters) dated 6 March 1860 - 27 December 1880
- Davies Sherborn to Günther (1 letter)
- Günther to Charles Darwin (1 letter)
Also includes a photocopy of a letter, dated 17 July 1972, from Albert C.L.G. Günther to M.J. Rowlands at the British Museum (Natural History) [Natural History Museum] asking Rowlands to make xerox copies of the original letters 'so that my own notes will be complete without the use of the original letters'.
Letters stored in a letter file, which is labelled as 'Pamphlets, Günther' with an accompanying note from A.E. Günther, dated 15 September 1975, stating that the letter file comes from the Library of A.C.L.G. Günther and would date from the 1880s. |