Richard Henry Beddome

Richard Henry Beddome
Born(1830-05-11)May 11, 1830
Clapham Common, England
DiedFebruary 23, 1911(1911-02-23) (aged 80)
Wandsworth, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Indian Army
Years of service1848–1892
RankColonel
CommandsMadras Forest Department

Colonel Richard Henry Beddome (11 May 1830 – 23 February 1911) was a British military officer and naturalist in India, who became chief conservator of the Madras Forest Department. In the mid-19th century, he extensively surveyed several remote and then-unexplored hill ranges in Sri Lanka and south India, including those in the Eastern Ghats such as Yelandur, Kollegal, Shevaroy Hills, Yelagiri, Nallamala Hills, Visakhapatnam hills, and the Western Ghats such as Nilgiri hills, Anaimalai hills, Agasthyamalai Hills and Kudremukh. He described many species of plants, amphibians, and reptiles from southern India and Sri Lanka, and several species from this region described by others bear his name.