John Stanley Gardiner

Jephson was a member of the Anglican clergy and, at the time of his marriage to Sarah in 1868, was chaplain to Lord Dufferin at Carrickfergus (near Belfast).

While there "his critical thinking was shaped by the science masters and where he was a great supporter of the school's Natural History Society".

He was particularly fascinated by marine biology and in 1896, aged 26, he joined the Royal Society Expedition to Funafuti in the Ellice Islands in the Pacific.

This must have been a very formative experience for thereafter he devoted much of his research to the scleractinian corals and the environmental factors influencing their distribution.

This research encompassed not only the identification and taxonomy of corals but also studies of their growth rates and feeding biology.

Much of his subsequent work was carried out in the Indian Ocean, first of all in the Laccadives and Maldives and then through expeditions to the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles, Amirantes, Coetivy, Cargados Carajos, Farquhar, Providence, St. Pierre and Mauritius.

A listing of some of his major publications can be found in his obituary by Forster Cooper as well as in the article detailing his legacy to reef science referenced below.

Edith was a chemist and did some pioneering research work with radium, and into the importance of amino acids in diet.