Harry George Champion: Difference between revisions

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| honorific_suffix  = [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]  
| honorific_suffix  = [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]  
| birth_date        = 17 August 1891
| birth_date        = 17 August 1891
| nationality      = [[United Kingdom|British]]
| death_date        = 20 June 1979
| death_date        = 20 June 1979
| field            = [[Botany]]
| field            = [[Botany]]
}}
}}
'''Sir Harry George Champion''' [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]  (17 August 1891 – 20 June 1979) was a [[Geographer]] and forest officer in British India who created a classification of the forest types of India and Burma.
'''Sir Harry George Champion''' [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]  (17 August 1891 – 20 June 1979) was a [[geographer]] and forest officer in British India who created a classification of the forest types of India and Burma.


Champion was the son of British [[entomologist]] [[George Charles Champion]]. He studied at [[New College, Oxford]], and obtained a degree in chemistry in 1912 and then studied botany and forestry under [[William Schlich]]. He joined the [[Indian Forest Service]] in 1915 and became a [[silviculture|silviculturist]] at the Forest Research Institute at [[Dehradun]] staying there until 1936 before becoming a Conservator in the United Provinces. He left India in 1939 and became a Professor of Forestry at Oxford, succeeding [[Robert Scott Troup]]. Troup had offered him a position at the [[Imperial Forestry Institute]] in 1924 but Champion chose not to join it. He married Troup's secretary Crystal Parsons.<ref name=obit>{{cite journal|author=Jones, EW|title=Obituary: Sir Harry Champion|journal=Forestry |pages=109–112|volume=52|issue=2 |year=1979|doi=10.1093/forestry/52.2.109}}</ref>
==Early life==


Champion published an initial classification of the forest types of India and Burma in 1936. This was revised in 1968 by S K. Seth and this is referred to as the Champion and Seth classification of the forest types of India.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A revised survey of the forest types of India|last=Champion|first=Harry G.|last2=Seth|first2=S. K.|publisher=Manager of Publications, Government of India|year=1968|location=New Delhi|url=https://archive.org/details/revisedsurveyoff0000sirh}}</ref> His younger brother [[F. W. Champion]] was also a forester in India and a pioneer in wildlife photography.
Champion was the son of British [[entomologist]] [[George Charles Champion]]. He studied at [[New College, Oxford]], and obtained a degree in chemistry in 1912 and then studied botany and forestry under [[William Schlich]].<ref name=obit/>
 
==Career==
 
He joined the [[Indian Forest Service]] in 1915 and became a [[silviculture|silviculturist]] at the Forest Research Institute at [[Dehradun]] staying there until 1936 before becoming a Conservator in the United Provinces. He left India in 1939 and became a Professor of Forestry at Oxford, succeeding [[Robert Scott Troup]]. Troup had offered him a position at the [[Imperial Forestry Institute]] in 1924 but Champion chose not to join it. He married Troup's secretary Crystal Parsons.<ref name=obit>{{cite journal|author=Jones, EW|title=Obituary: Sir Harry Champion|journal=Forestry |pages=109–112|volume=52|issue=2 |year=1979|doi=10.1093/forestry/52.2.109}}</ref>
 
==Forest classification ==
{{anchor|Classification}}
 
Champion published an initial classification of the forest types of India and Burma in 1936. This was revised in 1968 by S K. Seth and this is referred to as the '''Champion and Seth classification of the forest types of India'''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A revised survey of the forest types of India|last=Champion|first=Harry G.|last2=Seth|first2=S. K.|publisher=Manager of Publications, Government of India|year=1968|location=New Delhi|url=https://archive.org/details/revisedsurveyoff0000sirh}}</ref> His younger brother [[F. W. Champion]] was also a forester in India and a pioneer in wildlife photography.


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]
[[Category:British people in British India]]

Latest revision as of 04:17, 8 February 2026


Harry George Champion

Born17 August 1891
Died20 June 1979
Scientific career
FieldsBotany

Sir Harry George Champion CIE (17 August 1891 – 20 June 1979) was a geographer and forest officer in British India who created a classification of the forest types of India and Burma.

Early life[edit | edit source]

Champion was the son of British entomologist George Charles Champion. He studied at New College, Oxford, and obtained a degree in chemistry in 1912 and then studied botany and forestry under William Schlich.[1]

Career[edit | edit source]

He joined the Indian Forest Service in 1915 and became a silviculturist at the Forest Research Institute at Dehradun staying there until 1936 before becoming a Conservator in the United Provinces. He left India in 1939 and became a Professor of Forestry at Oxford, succeeding Robert Scott Troup. Troup had offered him a position at the Imperial Forestry Institute in 1924 but Champion chose not to join it. He married Troup's secretary Crystal Parsons.[1]

Forest classification[edit | edit source]

Champion published an initial classification of the forest types of India and Burma in 1936. This was revised in 1968 by S K. Seth and this is referred to as the Champion and Seth classification of the forest types of India.[2] His younger brother F. W. Champion was also a forester in India and a pioneer in wildlife photography.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jones, EW (1979). "Obituary: Sir Harry Champion". Forestry. 52 (2): 109–112. doi:10.1093/forestry/52.2.109.
  2. Champion, Harry G.; Seth, S. K. (1968). A revised survey of the forest types of India. New Delhi: Manager of Publications, Government of India.

External links[edit | edit source]