Francis Day

Francis Talbot Day CIE (2 March 1829 – 10 July 1889) was an army surgeon and naturalist in the Madras Presidency who later became the Inspector-General of Fisheries in India and Burma.

He was also responsible for the introduction of trout into the Nilgiri hills, for which he received a medal from the French Societe d'Acclimatation.

Day was born in Maresfield, East Sussex, the third son of William and Ann Elliott née Le Blanc.

Taking an interest in medicine, he joined St. George's Hospital in 1849 where he studied under Henry Day, with Francis Trevelyan Buckland as a classmate.

[1] He received the MRCS in 1851 and joined as Assistant Surgeon in the Madras Army, British East India Company, in 1852.

In 1865 Day wrote to Thomas C. Jerdon who had also worked on catalogue of the freshwater fishes of southern India.

After recuperating in England he was appointed Inspector-General of Fisheries in 1871, making surveys in the Ganges, Yamuna, Sind and Baluchistan regions.

[8] Following the death of his second wife Emily, he returned to England on a two-year leave to write the Fishes of India which also required him to visits to museums across Europe.

[3][4] Day also published two volumes on "Fishes" in The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma series in which he described over 1400 species.

He also wrote on British and Irish Salmonidae, which he illustrated with nine plates, the colouring of which was done by Miss Florence Woolward.

Day was an active member, and president of the Cheltenham Natural Sciences Society and presented papers to them.

[10] Talking on the vivisection debates at the Cheltenham Natural Sciences Society, Day supported certain forms of animal experimentation for the benefits it yielded for human health.