Person

Bain, Francis, 1842-1894

1842-1894

Francis Bain was born on February 25, 1842, in North River, Prince Edward Island. 
 
He was a self-educated farmer, geologist, ornithologist, botanist, author, and artist. As a boy, he was fond of reading and developed a liking for natural science. After the death of his older brother in 1862, the family farm became his sole responsibility, with formal schooling curtailed, but Bain continued studies of classics, mathematics, French, and German on his own. In the 1860s, he began travelling all over the Island to pursue his interest in natural science. He considered himself foremost a geologist. He mapped the province’s bedrock and collected, illustrated, described, and identified many fossils. He also discovered a species of fossil fern on PEI that Sir William Dawson subsequently named Tylodendron baini. In 1892, he was commissioned by the federal government to investigate the feasibility of constructing a submarine tunnel from PEI to New Brunswick. Bain’s enthusiasm to share his learning led him to engage in extensive writing and lecturing. Between 1881 and 1893, he published over twenty scientific papers and two books, “The Natural History of Prince Edward Island” (1890) and “Birds of Prince Edward Island, Their Habits and Characteristics” (1891). He also published over fifty natural science articles in a half-dozen Canadian and American scientific journals. His articles included lists and records of birds, shells, plants, butterflies, fossils, and geological formations. His career as a public speaker on botany, geology, and the proposed tunnel to New Brunswick, often illustrated with his drawings, began about 1885. Bain's knowledge and understanding of natural science mark him as the first Islander to whom the contemporary term ecologist can appropriately be applied.
 
In 1875, he married Caroline Matilda Clark (1852–1913). He died on November 20, 1894, in North River, Prince Edward Island.