Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 1726 – 16 December 1798) was a Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire in Wales.
As a naturalist he had a great curiosity, observing the geography, geology, plants, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish around him and recording what he saw and heard about. He wrote acclaimed books including British Zoology, the History of Quadrupeds, Arctic Zoology and Indian Zoology although he never travelled further afield than continental Europe. He knew and maintained correspondence with many of the scientific figures of his day. His books influenced the writings of Samuel Johnson. As an antiquarian, he amassed a considerable collection of art and other works, largely selected for their scientific interest. Many of these works are now housed at the National Library of Wales.
As a traveller he visited Scotland and many other parts of Britain and wrote about them. Many of his travels took him to places that were little known to the British public and the travelogues he produced, accompanied by painted and engraved colour plates, were much appreciated. Each tour started at his home and related in detail the route, the scenery, the habits and activities of the people he met, their customs and superstitions and the wildlife he saw or heard about. He travelled on horseback accompanied by his servant, Moses Griffiths, who sketched the things they encountered, later to work these up into illustrations for the books. He was an amiable man with a large circle of friends and was still busily following his interests into his sixties. He enjoyed good health throughout his life and died at Downing at the age of seventy two.Pennant's two Scottish tours were praised by critics, as were his natural history books.[29] The Critical Review called the Tour in Scotland 1769 "the best itinerary which has hitherto been written on that country".[30] Pennant's two Scottish tours made him the best known writer on Scotland, and stimulated the great literary figure of the age, Dr Johnson, to travel in Scotland and especially to the Hebrides, resulting in notable works by both Johnson (A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, 1775) and his friend and biographer James Boswell (The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 1786),[29] According to the historian David Allan, all three of these "famous" texts were "deliberate attempts... to educate their English readers about Scotland. The intention here was usually to instil both a genuine curiosity and a profound sympathy for their fellow Britons" in marked contrast, in Allan's view, to the prevailing English ignorance and hostility to the people of Scotland; and he cites evidence that readers found it "a beguiling vision that literally prescribed how they would now see and respond—positively, fondly, inquisitively—to Scotland and its culture".[31] With rare praise, Johnson said of Pennant "... he's the best traveller I ever read; he observes more things than anyone else does." And in 1777, Johnson said to Boswell "Our ramble in the islands hangs upon my imagination. I can hardly help imagining that we shall go again. Pennant seems to have seen a great deal which we did not see. When we travel again let us look better about us."[
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