Moritz Richard Schomburgk


Moritz Richard Schomburgk, generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German botanist and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Schomburgk, and his wife Christiane Juliane Wilhelmine, née Krippendorf.
Schomburgk studied botany at Berlin and in the Royal Gardens at Potsdam.
In 1844 he went on the Prussian-British expedition to British Guiana and Brazil, led by his brother Robert. He collected for the Museum of the University of Berlin. After the political turmoil in Europe in 1848, he emigrated to Gawler, South Australia. In 1865, he became Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, a position he kept until his death and was succeeded by Maurice William Holtze. He wrote Versuch einer Zusammenstellung der Flora und Fauna von Britisch-Guiana.
Schomburgk died in Adelaide, South Australia; he was survived by a son and four daughters.

Family

Schomburgk married Pauline Henriette Kneib at sea aboard Princess Louise. Among their children were:
His older brother, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk, carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies and also fulfilled diplomatic missions for Great Britain in the Dominican Republic and Thailand.
Another brother Otto Alfred Carl Schomburgk and his wife Maria Charlotte Schomburgk née Von Selchow, arrived in South Australia with Moritz Richard Schomburgk aboard the Princess Louise in August 1849.
His youngest brother, Julius Ludwig Schomburgk,, was chief designer for noted Adelaide silversmith J. M. Wendt.
A sister, Caroline Schomburgk, was the second wife of Rev. Dr. Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke of Tanunda, a fellow passenger on the Princess Louise.

Honors

Moritz Richard Schomburgk is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, Ctenotus schomburgkii.