The Sowerby family was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 family of four generations of naturalists

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, illustrators, botanists, and zoologists.

• James Sowerby
  James Sowerby
  James Sowerby was an English naturalist and illustrator. Contributions to published works, such as A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland or English Botany, include his detailed and appealing plates...
  
   (1757 – 1822)
  • James De Carle Sowerby
    James De Carle Sowerby
    James De Carle Sowerby was a British mineralogist and illustrator. He received an education in chemistry.He continued his father's work and published, together with his brother George Brettingham Sowerby I, the latter volumes of the Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, begun by their...
    
     (1787 – 1871)
  • George Brettingham Sowerby I
    George Brettingham Sowerby I
    George Brettingham Sowerby I was a British naturalist, illustrator, and conchologist.He was the son of James Sowerby. Together with his brother James De Carle Sowerby he continued their father's work on fossil shells, publishing the latter parts of the Mineral Conchology of Great Britain...
    
     (1788 – 1854)
    • George Brettingham Sowerby II
      George Brettingham Sowerby II
      George Brettingham Sowerby II was a British naturalist, illustrator, and conchologist.Together with his father, George Brettingham Sowerby I, he published the Thesaurus Conchylorium and other illustrated works on molluscs....
      
       (1812 – 1884)
      • George Brettingham Sowerby III
        George Brettingham Sowerby III
        George Brettingham Sowerby III was a British conchologist, publisher, and illustrator.He, too, worked on the Thesaurus Conchyliorium, a comprehensive, beautifully illustrated work on molluscs...
        
         (1843 – 1921)

The vast majority of their work was on molluscs and their systematics

Systematics

Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...

. Together, they introduced numerous (sometimes the number 5000 is mentioned) taxonomic

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...

 names.

Because all three of the G.B Sowerbys published extensively on the subject of conchology

Conchology

Conchology is the scientific or amateur study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs, however malacology studies molluscs as whole organisms, not just their shells. Conchology pre-dated malacology as a field of study. It includes the study of land and...

, it is not easy even for professional taxonomists to unravel which of the three "G.B. Sowerbys" is meant in a particular citation when the numbering system G.B. Sowerby I, II, or III is not used. Even when a date is provided, this kind of attribution is not obvious: e.g. "Sowerby, 1870" can refer to either G.B. Sowerby II or G.B. Sowerby III.