James Ritchie (naturalist)

James Ritchie CBE PRSE (27 May 1882 – 19 October 1958) was a Scottish naturalist and archaeologist, who was Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh 1936–52 and President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1952–1958.

[1] He was born on 27 May 1882 in Port Elphinstone in Aberdeenshire the son of James Ritchie, the local schoolmaster.

[2] From 1921 to 1930 he was Keeper of Natural History at the Royal Scottish Museum on Chambers Street in Edinburgh.

Their children included the physiologist Anthony Elliot Ritchie FRSE.

His painting, by Alfred Edward Borthwick, hangs at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.