Ramsay Traquair

Ramsay Heatley Traquair FRSE FRS (30 July 1840 – 22 November 1912) was a Scottish naturalist and palaeontologist who became a leading expert on fossil fish.

He spent the remainder of his career at the Museum building up a renowned collection of fossil fish over a period of more than three decades.

[3] The family moved to 10 Duncan Street[4] in south Edinburgh when his father retired, soon after Traquair's birth.

[7] This appointment included a testimonial from T. H. Huxley, however Traquair's stay at Cirencester was brief as he felt that "this post isolated him from research".

[1] Moving to Dublin, Ireland, in 1867, Traquair took up the position of Professor of Zoology at the Royal College of Science, working and teaching there for six years.

[2] This position had been created by the government to ensure that the museum collections remained independent rather than under the control of the University of Edinburgh's Professor of Natural History, Wyville Thomson.

[6] One of the locations where Traquair carried out work on fossil fish was the gorge of Dura Den, in Fife, Scotland, and his collection from here and elsewhere was considered one of the finest in the world at the time.

[6] Fossil fish that he classified included the Palaeoniscidae and the Platysomidae, overturning earlier work by Louis Agassiz.

[6] He is buried in the graveyard at Colinton Parish Church, with his grave marked by a headstone designed by his wife[1] and carved by Pilkington Jackson.