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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E003197 - Tarn, John (1793 - 1877)
Title:
Tarn, John (1793 - 1877)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E003197
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2012-11-28

2023-01-17
Description:
Obituary for Tarn, John (1793 - 1877), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Tarn, John
Date of Birth:
1793
Place of Birth:
Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire
Date of Death:
7 November 1877
Place of Death:
Newton Abbot, Devon
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
MRCS August 4th 1815

FRCS (by election) August 26th 1844
Details:
Educated at St George's Hospital, where he was entered as a six-months pupil to Thomas Keate in June, 1812, and in November of that year took out a further six-months ticket. He entered the Royal Navy in 1813, and served as Surgeon on board HMS *President*, HMS *Salisbury*, and HMS *Melville* between 1815 and 1820. He retired with the rank of Staff Surgeon, and was Agent for Sick at Liverpool in 1849. He won the Gilbert Blane Gold Medal and the Silver Naval Medal with Clasp. He died at Knowles Hill, Newton Abbot, on November 7th, 1877. **See below for an expanded version of the original obituary which was printed in volume 1 of Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows. Please contact the library if you would like more information lives@rcseng.ac.uk** John Tarn was a naval surgeon who served on the *Adventure* during a surveying expedition to South America with the *Beagle* under Captain Robert FitzRoy and later on convict ships taking prisoners to Australia. He was born in the village of Shipton-Under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire, the son of the Reverend John Tarn and Charlotte Tarn née Brookes. He studied medicine at St George’s Hospital in London, where he was a pupil of the eminent surgeon Thomas Keate. He was appointed as an assistant surgeon in the Royal Navy on 11 May 1813 and gained his MRCS in 1815. Between 1815 and 1820 he served on the *President, *Salisbury* and *Melville*. In 1817 he was a member of the *Beever* crew. He was promoted to surgeon on 8 September 1818 and was acting surgeon on board the *Sybille* in October 1819. In 1821 he was appointed as surgeon to the *Satellite*. He was the surgeon superintendent on the Brunswick emigrant ship from Cork to Quebec in 1825. His journal of the voyage survives – *Medical Journal of the Brunswick Emigrant Ship, by John Tarn, Surgeon and Superintendent, During which Time the Said Ship was Employed in Conveying Emigrants from Cork to Quebec. 5 April - 27 June 1825*. From 1826 to 1830 he served as a surgeon on the *Adventure* on the historic first voyage of the *Adventure* and *Beagle* to survey South America. Tarn appears in Captain FitzRoy’s account of the voyage (*Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of his Majesty’s ships Adventure and Beagle between the Years 1826 and 1836 Describing their Examinations of the Southern Shores of South America, and the Beagle’s Circumnavigation of the Globe* London, Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough Street, 1839). A newly recorded species of bird *Hylactes tarnii* was named in his honour. FitzRoy records: ‘The specific name I have selected is a compliment to Mr John Tarn, surgeon of the Adventure, to whose attention, in procuring and preserving numerous specimens in ornithology, I am greatly indebted.’ A mountain in what is now Chile was also named after him, after he became the first European to makes its ascent in February 1827. ‘During our excursion we ascertained the best place to ascend the snowy mountain, since named “Tarn”; and the surgeon, whose name it bears, set off with a party of officers to make the attempt, in which he succeeded…’ FitzRoy also notes that Brook Harbour was so named at ‘Tarn’s request’ – possibly to honour his mother’s family. In the 1830s and 1840s Tarn was surgeon superintendent on five convict ship voyages to Australia. Three ships took prisoners to New South Wales: the *Georgiana* (1831), the *George Hibbert* (1834) and the *Bengal Merchant* (1836). Two ships sailed to Van Diemen’s Land: the *Surrey* (or *Surry*) (1842) and the *Pestonjee Bomanjee* (1849). In 1849 he was at a dinner in Sydney at the Australian Club to mark a visit to Europe by a Captain King. Tarn was awarded the Sir Gilbert Blane medal and the Silver Naval medal with clasp. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1844. He retired with the rank of staff surgeon and was agent for the sick at Liverpool in 1849. In the 1861 Census he was recorded as living at the house of his unmarried sister Mary at Newton Abbot, Devon. Also living with Mary was their brother Miles and a sister, Sophia. Tarn died at Knowles Hill, Newton Abbot on 7 November 1877. Sarah Gillam
Sources:
Free Settler or Felon John Tarn RN Convict Ship Surgeon-Superintendent www.freesettlerorfelon.com/john_tarn_surgeon.html – accessed 16 January 2023
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003100-E003199
Media Type:
Unknown