George Crawford Hyndman

George Crawford Hyndman (1796–1867) was an Irish auctioneer and amateur biologist.

He was the son of Cherry Crawford Hyndman (1766-1845) and James Hyndman (1761?–1825), a Belfast Woollen merchant. Both parents, in the 1790s, were active in the republican Society of United Irishmen. In heavily garrisoned Belfast, neither appear to have been implicated in the 1798 rebellion, but, for whatever reason, James Hyndman did not join other merchants and local dignitaries in signing a proclamation published just before the risings to the north and south of the town in June, which expressed support for the government.

George was educated at the Belfast Academy until apprenticed to his father’s business at age 14. After his father died in 1825, he took the business over while devoting his leisure time to Irish natural history. thumb

Hyndman was a member of the Belfast Dredging Committee (other members were George Dickie, Edward Waller and John Gwyn Jeffreys). This operated from 1857 to 1859, under grants from the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a founder member of the Belfast Natural History Society. 1859 Report of the Belfast Dredging Committee. Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science : 282-293 1860 Report of the Belfast Dredging Committee for 1859. Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science : 116-119 (Committee joined by Charles Wyville Thomson.

Most of Hyndman's discoveries are published with attribution in Thompson, William (edited by Patterson, R.) The Natural History of Ireland Volume 4: Mammalia, reptiles and fishes. Also, invertebrata. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856