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Benjamin Stillingfleet

English botanist, polymath and author
"Still." redirects here. For other uses, see Still (disambiguation).

Benjamin Stillingfleet (1702–1771) was an English botanist, polymath, and author.

Benjamin Stillingfleet
Stillingfleet by Johann Zoffany, RA
Born1702
Wood Norton, Norfolk, England
Died15 December 1771[1]
Piccadilly, England
Resting placeSt James's Church, Piccadilly
NationalityBritish
OccupationAuthor
Known forthe source of the phrase Blue Stocking

Life

Benjamin Stillingfleet was born in 1702 in Wood Norton, Norfolk to Mary Ann and Edward Stillingfleet. He was one of four children, and the only son.[2] His grandfather, Edward Stillingfleet, had died in 1699, but left no money to Benjamin's father as he disapproved of his father's opinions and his marriage.[3]

Stillingfleet was educated at Norwich School and excelled at classical languages. He was invited to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1720 at the request of the Master of the college Richard Bentley.[4] Stillingfleet obtained a B.A. in 1723, but his application to become a Fellow at the college was rejected. This was in part due to the influence of Bentley, who is reported to have said that "Stillingfleet was too fine a gentleman to be buried within the walls of a college."[5][6] He went on to serve as a tutor to his relative William Windham at Felbrigg Hall for 13 years, in part to alleviate his financial struggles. He also accompanied Windham on the Grand Tour.[7] Whilst in Switzerland, the duo organised a series of pantomimes using other tourists as cast helpers and audience. Stillingfleet was in charge of the music and the scenery. This group was known as the "Common Room." During the summers the same group would set out on scientific explorations to find the undocumented glaciers of the Alps.

After their return to England in 1742, Stillingfleet, now out of work, was awarded a pension of 100 pounds per year for the next seven years by the Windham family. Windham went on to become a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1744 based on the explorations that he and Stillingfleet had made of glaciers in Switzerland, as well as for his mathematical abilities which Stillingfleet had tutored.

In his later years, Stillingfleet devoted himself to the studies of botany and music.[5] In 1759, he published Miscellaneous Tracts, a botanical text which helped popularise the Linnaean system of classification. In 1761 Stillingfleet was lauded for his contribution to William Hudson's Flora Anglica,[8] another botanical text.[2] Stillingfleet also published a Calendar of Flora in 1755, based on the observations of Theophrastus, an early formalization of the study of plant phenology and based on Linnaeus' promotion of the idea of natural calendars.[9]

In the study of music, he published a translated edition of Giuseppe Tartini's work on music theory, and wrote the libretto for the opera Paradise Lost: An Oratorio.[5] He planned to publish an edition of Paradise Lost, but Stillingfleet gave up the project after Thomas Newton's 1749 edition was published.

<imagemap> File:Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo by Richard Samuel.jpg|thumb|200px|left| Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo by Richard Samuel, 1778, include Elizabeth Carter, Angelica Kauffman, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Catharine Macaulay, Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Ann Sheridan and Charlotte Lennox.[10] Use a cursor to see who is who.

poly 401 910 483 854 483 836 448 779 446 731 492 699 552 722 569 801 569 820 552 846 686 897 728 887 749 895 811 858 820 863 809 881 853 874 868 880 822 911 778 913 750 938 746 974 713 999 691 1058 654 1096 500 1033 Anna Letitia Barbauld - poet and writer poly 252 969 312 907 299 883 301 852 284 825 288 776 296 741 339 720 380 720 409 755 422 807 418 823 427 836 415 880 401 883 401 893 446 905 462 924 488 952 511 1026 455 1122 398 1255 376 962 Elizabeth Carter - translator poly 408 1338 435 1299 402 1300 394 1239 423 1179 456 1100 488 1065 497 1048 485 992 475 981 475 948 497 909 519 881 546 880 562 879 591 902 608 941 604 965 605 987 593 1019 581 1038 600 1054 652 1080 686 1123 690 1168 698 1218 704 1237 690 1288 763 1490 773 1608 780 1677 825 1725 698 1779 646 1763 432 1794 323 1775 250 1739 272 1545 266 1397 405 1395 Angelica Kauffman - artist poly 930 1089 893 939 901 894 900 838 876 794 876 754 915 715 948 695 986 722 1011 752 1033 767 1031 779 1042 810 1020 831 1025 870 1069 881 1117 938 1129 981 1164 956 1168 1010 1115 1036 1105 1051 1176 1216 1197 1442 1165 1469 1137 1790 985 1818 969 1842 942 1842 742 1790 875 1729 907 1659 907 1301 902 1174 Elizabeth Sheridan - singer poly 1711 1072 1711 923 1697 895 1668 863 1680 839 1660 817 1733 816 1714 848 1737 888 1759 884 1787 835 1793 806 1864 765 1847 679 1858 618 1909 604 1942 638 1952 709 2009 785 2005 940 2000 1015 1980 1054 1822 1175 1754 1080 Hannah More - writer poly 1997 1053 2020 973 2032 939 1983 913 1973 853 2013 788 2043 732 2029 675 2030 581 2076 543 2129 556 2165 625 2212 722 2251 731 2268 736 2280 730 2363 623 2373 627 2300 747 2318 785 2347 884 2315 956 2305 1021 2298 1105 Charlotte Lennox - writer poly 1307 1390 1344 1345 1368 1343 1408 1339 1478 1283 1534 1172 1594 1121 1591 1067 1573 1004 1608 961 1682 962 1707 1002 1705 1080 1701 1103 1732 1128 1726 1149 1772 1216 1791 1289 1767 1362 1637 1482 1600 1612 1557 1702 1483 1724 1383 1677 1463 1616 1430 1462 1430 1425 1402 1439 1362 1423 1345 1399 1326 1417 1309 1408 1307 1411 Catharine Macaulay - historian poly 1531 1639 1534 1626 1597 1600 1634 1519 1660 1394 1703 1320 1777 1321 1768 1295 1799 1254 1826 1173 1820 1114 1833 1069 1825 1060 1830 1030 1835 981 1854 939 1901 928 1951 978 1970 1017 1987 1065 2056 1201 2056 1217 2027 1385 1822 1761 1719 1749 1662 1757 1656 1739 1688 1724 1621 1657 Elizabeth Montagu - Leader of Blue Stocking Society poly 1883 1479 1847 1651 1819 1776 1762 1798 1761 1822 1874 1822 1967 1824 2047 1831 2085 1692 2205 1686 2273 1713 2393 1691 2337 1664 2340 1575 2308 1452 2316 1309 2262 1197 2129 1130 2123 1096 2082 1064 2063 1073 2000 1050 1962 1125 2000 1165 2018 1195 2028 1183 2062 1207 2036 1252 2022 1324 2031 1359 2005 1378 1915 1357 1819 1396 1867 1423 1907 1456 1891 1471 1870 1504 Elizabeth Griffith - playwright and novelist rect 0 0 3600 2793 Use your cursor to explore (or Click icon to enlarge) desc bottom-left </imagemap>

In the early 1750s, an intellectual society was formed by Elizabeth Montagu as part of the Blue Stocking Society movement. The society was noted for encouraging conversation over card playing. They invited various people to attend including Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Catharine Macaulay, Elizabeth Griffith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Ann Linley, Charlotte Lennox[10] and Stillingfleet. One story[which?] tells that Stillingfleet was not rich enough to have the proper formal dress, which included black silk stockings, and so he attended the society's meetings in everyday blue worsted stockings. James Boswell records that during a period of poor conversation when Stillingfleet was absent, it was remarked that they were "nowhere without blue stockings."[2] The term bluestocking came to refer to the informal quality of the gatherings and the emphasis on conversation over fashion. Later, it came to refer to a member of a bluestocking society.[11]

In his Letter from Mr. Stillingfleet to Mr. Windham on his coming on age, Stillingfleet appears apologetic towards Christianity.[12] Stillingfleet died at his lodgings in Piccadilly and his papers were burnt following his own instructions.[2] He left his estate to his one remaining sister. A monument was erected only after some years to his memory at the nearby St James's Church, Piccadilly by his nephew.

Legacy

Stillingfleet was a populariser of the influential Linnaean taxonomy.

The first surviving use of the epithet bluestocking is in reference to Stillingfleet.[13] James Boswell theorized that his habit of wearing blue stockings to intellectual meetings gave rise to the name Blue Stockings Society. This phrase is the origin of the word bluestocking, a pejorative epithet for a learned or intellectual woman. The word by loan translation is also used in German as Blaustrumpf, in Dutch as blauwkous and in French as bas-bleu.[14]

Works

The standard author abbreviation Still. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[16]

References

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benjamin Stillingfleet.
  1. ^ Town and Country Magazine. volume 3, supplement. page 717.
  2. ^ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 I. D. Hughes, 'Stillingfleet, Benjamin (1702–1771)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2008 accessed 26 Feb 2010
  3. ^ "Stillingfleet, Benjamin" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  4. ^ "Stillingfleet, Benjamin (STLT720B)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Adlington, Hugh (2015). ""Formed on ye Gr. Language": Benjamin Stillingfleet Reads Paradise Lost, 1745-46". Milton Quarterly. 49 (4): 217–242. doi:10.1111/milt.12148. ISSN 0026-4326. JSTOR 26603216.
  6. ^ "Stillingfleet, Benjamin".
  7. ^ "Benjamin Stillingfleet". Notes and Queries: 224. 29 May 1948. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012.
  8. ^ "Hudson, William (1730?–1793)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  9. ^ Jankovic, Vladimir (2000). "The Place of Nature and the Nature of Place: The Chorographic Challenge to the History of British Provincial Science". History of Science. 38: 79–113. Bibcode:2000HisSc..38...79J. doi:10.1177/007327530003800104. S2CID 161800325.
  10. ^ 10.0 10.1 Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo, Richard Samuel, 1778, National Portrait Gallery, accessed February 2010
  11. ^ Barbara Brandon Schnorrenberg, "Montagu, Elizabeth (1718–1800)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 22 April 2007.
  12. ^ The British Critic, Volume 49. (1812). F. and C. Rivington, p. 60
  13. ^ "bluestocking, adj. and n.", OED Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 11 April 2022
  14. ^ Bluestocking, derivation and etymology at Dictionary.com, accessed February 2010
  15. ^ Stillingfleet, Benjamin (1811). Literary life and select works of Benjamin Stillingfleet. Vol. 2. p. 651.
  16. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Still.

External links

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