Teschemacher, Edward F. (1791-1863 )

Edward Frederick Teschemacher, English chemist, was born in Clarborough, Eastretford, Nottinghamshire, England on December 31, 1791, the son of Ann Saffory and John Roger Teschemacher, a London businessman. Edward's brother, James Englebert Teschemacher (1790-1853), became a naturalist and colleague of J.D. Dana in America, settling in Boston in 1832; James was the author of Essay on Guano (1845).

In the early 1850s, Edward established his own analytical laboratory in London with his partner, J. Denham Smith, under the company name of Teschemacher & Smith, a company which persisted for over a hundred years. Edward served as Secretary of the Chemical Society from 1841-1842, and Foreign Secretary from 1842-1847.

In 1835 Edward married Mary Anne Phillips (1808-1884), daughter of Richard Phillips, a cofounder of The Chemical Society and brother of the mineralogist William Phillips. His son, Edward Frederick Teschemacher (Jr.) (1843-1877), was also an analytical chemist; he took the Gold Medal in Chemistry at University College in 1861, then joined his father's laboratory. Following the death of his father he was taken into partnership by his father's partner, J. Denham Smith. Grandson Edward Frederick Teschemacher III also became an analytical chemist.

Edward Teschemacher (Sr.) lived at 4 Champion Place, Grove Lane, Camberwell, Surrey, but later moved to Park Terrace, Highbury, Surrey. He died January 10, 1863, in Highbury Park North, Middlesex, leaving an estate of less than £12,000. Naturally occurring bicarbonate of ammonia, a guano mineral, was described by Teschemacher in 1846 (Philosophical Magazine, v.28, p.548), and named teschemacherite in his honor by Dana in 1868.