A. F. R. Wollaston

Alexander Frederick Richmond Wollaston (22 May 1875, Clifton, Gloucestershire – 3 June 1930, Cambridge) was an English medical doctor, ornithologist, botanist, climber and explorer. After qualifying as a surgeon in 1903, Wollaston decided to spend his life on exploration and natural history, travelling extensively; he wrote books about his travels and work, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1907. As a tutor at King's College, Cambridge, he was shot dead by a deranged student.

Early life and education

The second son of George Hyde Wollaston (1844-1926), a schoolmaster at Clifton College, formerly a geologist, and his wife Sarah Constance (née Richmond), Sandy Wollaston's paternal grandfather was the amateur scientist Alexander Luard Wollaston, who was himself grandson of the astronomer Francis Wollaston, whose sons included- alongside A. L. Wollaston's father George Hyde Wollaston (1765-1841)- the philosopher Francis John Hyde Wollaston and the chemist William Hyde Wollaston. They descended from the theologian and philosopher William Wollaston. The Wollaston family were landed gentry, of Shenton Hall, Leicestershire, appearing in deeds dating back to the reign of Edward III.

Wollaston was educated at Clifton College before studying medicine at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1896 and qualifying as a surgeon in 1903. However, he disliked the medical profession and preferred to spend his life on exploration and natural history. He travelled extensively, visiting Lapland, the Dolomites, Sudan and Japan, as well as participating in the British Museum expedition to the Ruwenzori Mountains of Uganda in 1905-1906.