Albany Hancock

Albany Hancock was an English naturalist and biologist from Newcastle upon Tyne, born on 24 December 1806, and a supporter of Charles Darwin. He is best known for establishing a museum with his brother John and for his works on marine animals and coal-measure fossils. His father John, who shared an interest in natural history, died in 1812 when Albany was six, and the collections were kept up by their mother. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School and trained with a local solicitor, passing the examinations to practise law, but he turned instead to natural history for the rest of his life. His first serious publications appeared in 1836 in Jardines Magazine of Zoology and Botany, and he helped Joshua Alder with a catalogue of land and freshwater shells. He was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1858 and died in 1873.