Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists

Michael Darby

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GAHAN, Charles Joseph (20 January 1862 - 21 January 1939)

Born at Roscrea, Co. Tipperary and educated at Queen's College, Galway and the Royal School of Mines, South Kensington. Entered the NHM as an Assistant in the Zoological Department in 1886 and eventually became Keeper of the recently formed Entomology Department in 1913. Gahan was an entomologist of wide interests but studied the Coleoptera in particular, especially the families belonging to the Phytophaga, the Elateridae and the Cerambycidae. The latter formed his most important publication which was the volume on this group in the FBI. More than 100 other notes and articles dealt primarily with descriptions of new foreign species. Gahan retired from the NHM in 1927 when he moved to Mount Aylsham in Norfolk where he died.

The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum, 2, 1906, pp.554-55, records that Gahan's work shortly after his appointment to the Museum involved a complete revision of the Cerambycid collections. This subsequently included the addition of the Godman/Salvin collections of longhorns, the incorporation of which he completed in 1902. His work on the Phytophaga commenced in 1890 and again included the incorporation of the Godman/Salvin collections, particularly the Cebrionidae, Rhipiceridae, Dascillidae, Lycidae and Lampyridae. Work on the Elateridae was prompted by the arrival of the Janson collection presented by Godman in 1903 which was re-arranged by Gahan from 1904.

FRES from 1887. President 1917-1918; Vice President, 1916 and 1919, Secretary 1899-1900; and Council 1893-1895, 1901, 1914-1916, 1919. He was also a member of the SLENHS.

Gilbert (1977) lists eight obituaries and other notices. (MD 1/03)

GAIRDNER, K.G.

Attached to the Royal Survey Department in Bangkok when he gave three gifts of Coleoptera to the NHM: 1913/474, 160 specimens collected in the mountains on the Siam border; 1914/215, 4 more; and 1914/227 a further 9 specimens. (MD 1/03)

GALE, C.Y.

Gave various insects including Coleoptera collected in Hong Kong to the NHM in 1897 (1897/261). (MD 1/03)

GALE, L.

A Reverend. Davis & Brewer (1986) p. 66 record that he gave, on 19 April 1915, about 1000 Coleoptera to Sunderland Museum, said to be duplicates of another collection given to the Hancock Museum. They have now been amalgamated into the general collection. (MD 1/03)

GALLOWAY, John

Gave 180 Coleoptera amongst a collection of insects from Brazil, and 1 specimen from the East Indies, to Glasgow Museum in 1887 (1887-53). Lived at 15 St Vincent Place, Glasgow (Information from Geoff Hancock) (MD 1/03)

GALTON, J.C.

Insects collected by Galton in Atchin, Sumatara given to the HDO in 1875 (Smith (1986) p.121). (MD 1/03)

GANNING, Mrs

Listed as a subscriber to Denny (1825). Her address is given as Pottergate Street, Norwich. (MD 1/03)

GARDE, Philip le Hardy de la (1868 - 12 May 1913)

Born in Exeter where his father and grandfather had been distinquished surgeons. Educated at Christ's Hospital and began professional life as a clerk in Lloyd's Shipping Office, but at the age of 17 entered the Royal Navy as assistant clerk. He was eventually promoted to Paymaster but as a result of failing health he was invalided out in 1905. He then lived with his mother in a number of different locations in Devon, when his health improved somewhat, before dying at the comparatively young age of 45. He is buried at Exeter.

As a boy de la Garde was interested in the Lepidoptera but as a result of collecting around the world (many non Coleoptera in the HDO) became more interested in the Coleoptera and later the Hemiptera. His travels in Devon gave him a good insight into the local fauna and it is said that he had a new county list in draft before his death. Certainly he published various notes, particularly in the EMM, recording new additions to the Devon fauna.

Apart from his own collections - described as 'a model of neatness. He spared himself no pains in this respect, and no untidy example was allowed to pass muster' - de la Garde acquired the residue of T.V. Wollaston's Atlantic Islands' collection, comprising a large number of unidentified specimens, on which he worked 'with most gratifying results'. He exchanged 120 Coleoptera with the NHM in 1906 and gave 1,502 insects including 25 beetles (1906/88 and 1906/89). His obituary in EMM 49, 1913, pp. 161-62, also records that he was very generous in giving British specimens to other collectors.

There is a second obituary in ERJV, 25, 1913, p. 205. (MD 1/03)

GARDINER

Sold more than 100 Coleoptera from Ceylon and India to the NHM in 1846-1847 (1846/7, 1846/107, 1847/92). (MD 1/03)

GARDINER, Phyllis Claydon

Studied wood-boring Coleoptera whilst living at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. FRES from 1947. (MD 3/03)

GARDINER, J.S.

A Professor. Gave 2 Beetles from Ceylon to the NHM in 1902 (1902/34) and, as a member of the Percy Sladen Trust Exepdition, 2,300 specimens (including 1,250 weevils) from the Seychelles (1913/170, 1914/552); 96 Corylophidae (1916/269) and 130 Anthribidae (1914/114). (MD 1/03)

GARDNER, Arthur Eric (22 May 1913 -11 February 1976)

Born in Putney, served in the RAF during the war and worked as a salesman for Dean's blinds. His interest in entomology developed when he was a schoolboy and collected Lepidoptera. Later, as an angler, he became interested in the Ephemeroptera, Neuroptera and particularly the Odonata on which he published most of his important entomological research. His interest in Coleoptera likewise developed at this time and was centered particularly on the water beetles.

Gardner was involved in several regional surveys including Wood Walton Fen, Buckingham Palace Garden and the Leckford Estate of the J. Spedan Lewis Trust (I have some correspondence concerning the last). His publications mainly concerned dragonflies but did include several papers devoted to beetles the most important of which recorded his discovery of Eucinetus meridionalis Lap. new to Britain from a bog in South Hampshire (Ent. Gaz., 20, 1969, p. 59).

Gardner was an active member of the BENHS which he joined in 1947 becoming President in 1962 and serving as Curator from 1954 -1959, and 1963 until his death. He also served on the editorial board of the Society and on the boards of the Ent. (1953-1973) and the Ent. Gaz. (1953-1976).

Gardner's collection of Coleoptera which included the F. Coulson collection is in the NMW. Other specimens collected by him (from Cambridgeshire in 1911) are in the general collection of Oldham Museum (information from Simon Hayhow), and in the general collection of Doncaster Museum. I acquired his extensively annotated copy of Joy after his death. There is an obituary notice (by Charles Mackechnie-Jarvis) and portrait in Proc. BENHS, 10, 1977, pp. 34-36 and another in Proc. RESL, Journal of Meetings, p.41, and Supplement, 1976-1977, p. 49.

FRES from 1948, Council 1953-55 (with particular responsibility for representing amateur entomologists). (MD 3/03)

GARDNER, James Clark Molesworth (15 March 1894 - 10 March 1970)

Worked for most of his life as a systematic entomologist at the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India, specialising in particular on the taxonomy of beetle larvae on which he became a considerable authority. The series of papers which he published under the title 'Immature stages of Indian Coleoptera' in Indian Forest Records, 1925-1938, laid the foundation for further studies in other parts of the world.

There is a short obituary in Proc. RESL, 35, 1970-1971, (C), p.53. (MD 1/03)

GARDNER, John (28/29 December 1841 - 21 July 1921)

Born at Egglestone in Upper Teesdale. Moved to Hartlepool in early life and entered business as a timber merchant. He took an active interest in public affairs and was a member of the Town Council and the local Education Authority. After retiring he moved to Hart where he died.

Gardner's love of entomology began when he was a boy and collected Lepidoptera on which he subsequently became a considerable authority helping William Buckler on larvae as well as publishing an important local list. His interest in Coleoptera is said in his obituary in EMM, 57, 1921, pp. 236-237, to have begun in 1884. As with the Lepidoptera he concentrated on the local fauna discovering a large number of rare and interesting additions to those listed by Bold (1871-1872). In particular he applied himself to the water beetles which were not well known and much of this research was incorporated by Richard Bagnall in his 'Notes on local Coleoptera', Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History Society.

Davis & Brewer (1986) p. 67 record that Gardner's collection was donated to the Hancock Museum in 1913-1915. They also note that 2,333 duplicates were donated by the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham and Herbert Fletcher on behalf of the Hancock Museum to Sunderland Museum on 19 April and 1 December 1915. There are also specimens in the general collection at Doncaster and in the Hall collection at Oldham (Information from Simon Hayhow). Chalmers-Hunt (1976) p. 157 records that some Coleoptera were sold through Stevens on 23 March 1920.

FRES from 1890, and a member of the Coleoptera Committee of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union.

Apart from the obituary mentioned above there are others in Ent., 1921, p. 248; ERJV,33, 1921, p.164; Proc. RESL 1921, p.cxxix. and The Vascular, 8, pp. 27-29. (MD 1/03)

GARNER

A Professor. Gave 17 Coleoptera from West Africa to BMNH 'left in the Museum some years ago - collected by himself' (1899/74). (MD 1/03)

GARNEYS, William (1831 - 21 October 1881)

Born in Bungay, Suffolk the son of a doctor, and after receiving his education in London moved to Repton in Derbyshire. His interest in entomology developed when he was a boy and early centred on the Coleoptera. He published a number of short notes including: 'Note on water fall insects' (EMM, 1, 1864, p. 21); 'Cryptocephalus 10-punctatus in Staffordshire' (ibid., 3, 1866, 67); and 'Lathridius filum Aube at Burton on Trent' (ibid., 17, 1881, 260), but his most important work was his 'List of the Coleoptera of Repton and Neighbourhood' in Contributions to the Flora and Fauna of Repton and Neighbourhood, 1873, (2nd edition 1881). This small volume was originally compiled for the guidance of students at Repton School and includes chapters on other insects also contributed in part by Garneys. He alone was responsible for the beetles, however, as he explains in the Introduction. Both Gorham and Janson note in their diaries that Garneys sent them species (Gorham diary, Birmingham Museum; Janson diary, Cambridge).

This is presumably the W. Garness, that J.L. Fox records as collecting in the neighbourhood of Harleston and Bungay.

John Owen has pointed out to me that Fowler named Anaspis garneysi after him.

There are obituaries in EMM, 18, 1881, pp. 144, 163-164; Ent., 14, 1881, p. 302; Zool. Jahr., 1881, p. 5; and Zool. Anz., 4, 1881, p. 676. (MD 1/03)

GARNONS, L.P.

A Reverend. His collection of Coleoptera is mentioned in L. Jenyns manuscript volume Entomologia Cantabrigiensis - Mandibulata Part 1 in the Museum at Cambridge. (MD 1/03)

GAYE, J.A. de

A member of the African Entomological Research Committee in 1910 when he gave 43 beetles collected in the Seychelles and Southern Nigeria to the NHM. Further gifts followed from 1911/221. Other insects collected by him in Lagos are in the HDO (Smith (1986) p.121). (MD 1/03)

GAZE, W.

Mainly a Lepidopterist but he did publish one note on beetles 'Note on captures of Coleoptera near Sudbury' in Ent., 2, 1844, p. 486. (MD 1/03)

GEAN, R.

Listed as a subscriber to Denny (1825). He lived at Tenterden in Kent. (MD 1/03)

GEDYE, Alfred Francis John (1903 - March 1963)

Born in Bristol. Educated at St. Paul’s School and spent a year at the NHM studying Coleoptera. Migrated to East Africa where he joined a relative in business in Nairobi. During this time he worked consistently in the Coryndon Museum voluntarily on the Coleoptera. specialising particularly in the Cetoniinae and Buprestidae, and where he was appointed a Trustee. His large collection of insects and books was donated to the Coryndon Museum.

He sold out of his business about four years before his death and retired to live at Lymington, Hampshire. He had planned to return to Nairobi but died a few days before his departure date.

There is a short obituary in Proc. RESL, 28 (C), 1963-64, p. 58.

FRES from 1919. (MD 3/03)

GELDART, E.M.

Accompanied Thomas Blackburn and his brother on a beetle collecting expedition to the north of England which was written up in EMM, 1, 1864, pp. 145-148. (Perhaps related to W.M. Geldart whose notebook covering the period 1904-12 is in the HDO (Smith (1986) p.76)? (MD 1/03)

GERRARD, Edward

There are numerous references to Gerrard in the Acquisitions Register of the NHM 1850-1863. Most acquisitions are recorded as 'insects' and these undoubtedly included Coleoptera; see for example seven beetles from Ireland 1850/87. Was he on the staff of the Museum perhaps or a dealer? See Gerrard, E. Jnr., below. Smith (1986) p. 121 records various insects in the HDO including Cetoniidae and other Coleoptera from the Congo purchased in 1891, also 'various unspecified insects were also purchased between 1881 and 1892'. (MD 1/03)

GERRARD, E., Jnr.

Presumably the son of Edward Gerrard above. There are numerous references to him in the 1894-1900 Acquisitions Volume of the NHM. Since most refer to purchases one concludes that he was a dealer. Most of the material was tropical eg. Celebes (1896/120), Burma (1899/197). (MD 1/03)

GIBBS

A Mr Gibbs is mentioned in Stephens (1828), 1, p. 55 as a contributor of specimens to the Coleoptera collection of Mr Raddon. (MD 1/03)

GIBBS, A.E. (1858 - 1917)

Mainly a Lepidoperist but he also collected beetles. He lived in St. Albans and most of his entomological work appears to have been done in Hertfordshire. According to The Natural History of the Hitchin Region edited by Reginald Hine, 1934, p. 141, Gibbs prepared the list of 1,523 species which appears in the VCH. His only other publications on beetles appear to have been several articles in the Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society including 'Coleoptera new to Hertfordshire' (12, 1905, p.156).

Many specimens taken by Gibbs are in the collection at St. Albans Museum (information from Trevor James).

There is an obituary, which includes a list of papers, in Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, 17, 1919, which I have not seen. (MD 1/03)

GIBSON, Samuel

This is the Mr Gibson mentioned by Stephens (1828), 1, p. 168 and 2, pp. 16-17. Sharpe (1908) p. 12 states 'It is to be regretted that few among the earlier of these students [of Lancashire entomology] left any records of their labours, in fact many of them owed the only education possessed to that training which nature herself afforded. Among such names occur ... Samuel Gibson of Hebden Bridge and Jethro Tinker of Staleybridge. These men were the first of the group of whom any records exist, and had died out by the middle of the last century. Gibson's collection of Coleoptera was for many years in the Peel Park Museum, Manchester.'

He appears to have published only one article 'A list of the aquatic Coleoptera taken by Mr S. Gibson in about one hundred yard's length in the Hebden Watercourse' in Magazine of Natural History, 5, 1832, pp. 555-556. (MD 1/03)

GIBBONS

The Acquisitions Register of the NHM records that a Mr Gibbons gave 123 Coleoptera from Moreton Bay, Australia and 4 from India in 1856 (1856/1). (MD 1/03)

GILES, J.B. (or J.E.)

Mentioned by Stephens (1828) 1, p.132 (JEG) and 137 (JBG). (MD 1/03)

GILLETT, Miss Florence

Collected various insects including 50 Coleoptera in Somaliland which were then presented to the NHM (1898/49). She was travelling with Mr and Mrs Lort Phillips. (MD 1/03)

GILLO, Robert (d. 1891)

Lived at Bath where he did most of his entomological collecting and died. Added Amara nitida Sturm to the British list. Published a number of articles about beetles in Journ. Micr. Nat. Sci. including 'On Mounting Beetles and other Insects without Pressure' (4, 1885, pp. 151-154); 'The Mouth organs and other Characteristics of the British Geodephaga' (5, 1886, pp. 10-24); 'Whirligig Beetles' (6, 1887, pp. 34-40) and 'The external Anatomy of the Dor Beetle' (ibid., pp. 88-95). In EMM he published 'Coleoptera in the neighbourhood of Bath' (23, 1886, p. 161). With A. Ford he published 'Notes of the Season' in ERJV, 1, 1890, pp. 250-251.

Simon Hayhow informs me that there are specimens in the Hall Collection at Oldham from Bath bearing the name Gills which is presumably a misprint for Gillo.

There is a brief obituary in EMM, 27, 1891, p.200. (MD 1/03)

Duff (1993), p. 3 records that Gillo was "the first local man to make extensive studies of Somerset beetles...Gillo's collection passed to the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution probably in 1914, and in 1933 was displayed in glass topped boxes around the walls of one of the rooms in the Institution’s premises... The collections...are currently inaccessible and uncurated, and it is likely that extensive damage has taken place to any surviving entomological material". (MD 10/03)

GILMOUR, Elphinstone Forest

Director of Doncaster Museum between 1953 and 1967. Specialist in the Cerambycidae of which he built up an extensive worldwide collection (several hundred thousand specimens) at Doncaster with no regional bias through purchase, exchange and gift. The collection, which is maintained separately, includes numerous types and has been extensively referred to in the literature, usually as the Gilmour collection.

There are specimens collected by Gilmour in the Kauffmann collection at Manchester.

FRES. (MD 1/03)

GIMINGHAM, Conrad T. (1884 - 16 November 1957)

Trained as a chemist but became better known as an economic entomologist who was much involved in the affairs of the Association of Applied Biologists of which he was President 1938-1940. Gimingham's main work was in the study and development of insecticides first at Rothamstead and later at the Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden. He played an important part in the setting up in 1942 of the Ministry of Agriculture's approval scheme for crop protection products and in running the quarantine scheme which was probably responsible for preventing the Colorado Beetle establishing itself here.

Apart from his official work Gimingham was also a collector of British insects particularly Coleoptera and Aphididae. His interest in the former led to his becoming official Coleoptera Recorder for Hertfordshire and to his publication of 'Notes on the list of Hertfordshire Coleoptera' in Trans. Hertfordshire Nat.Hist.Soc., 24, 1955, pp.136-145. He also wrote on beetles in Ireland (EMM, 78, 1942, p.51). His Coleoptera collection remained at the Plant Pathology Laboratory after his death.

FRES from 1919 serving on Council three times and as Vice-President in 1950.

There is an obituary in Proc. RESL, 22 (C), 1957-58, p. 74 and another in Ann. Appl. Biol., 46, 1958, pp. 124-125 which I have not seen. (MD 1/03)

Duff (1993), p. 4 records that Gimingham collected Coleoptera around Long Ashton and occasionally elsewhere in Somerset. (MD 10/03)

GLANVILLE, Eleanor (c.1654 - 1709)

Distinquished early entomologist who is referred to before 1967 as Elizabeth or Lady Glanville. She appears to be the first person recorded to have reared Coleoptera. Glanville's life and work have been the subject of intense research by a number of historians the three most important publications being P.B.M. Allan, 'Mrs Glanville and Her Fritallary', ERJV, 63, 1951, pp. 292-294; R.S. Wilkinson, 'Elizabeth Glanville, an early Entomologist', Ent. Gaz., 17, 1966, pp. 149-160; and W.S. Bristowe, 'The Life of a Distinquished Woman Naturalist, Eleanor Glanville (Circa 1654-1709)' Ent. Gaz., 18, 1967, pp. 202-211.

Wilkinson showed that Glanville collected widely, particularly Lepidoptera, at a time when it was unusual for anyone, let alone a woman to pursue entomology; that she kept accurate records of larvae and foodplants; and that she reared a number of species still identifiable from her careful descriptions. His evidence is based particularly on the surviving collections and correspondence with James Petiver preserved in the NHM (Sloane MS 3324). Glanville's son, Richard, was apprenticed to Petiver which gives an indication of the closeness of their contact. At least two letters mention Coleoptera. On 28 December 1702, she wrote to Petiver from Bristol that she had neglected to clean her collections properly and 'ye Bettles was molded over wth a whit crusty mould wch when I went to clean broke al to peeces I hope while I live never again to let them be so long neglected', and in another letter of similar date referring to a package of insects from the Bristol area she lists four 'Scarabei ... The Great green bettle in ye box wch has but 2, lays eggs lik smal smoth cariway comfits and at that time, they perfum ye room they are in with an exceding sweet and pleasant smel 2 of them in a room wil give as strong a sent as if you were in a perfumers Shop', presumably a reference to Aromia moschata.

Bristowe's research established Glanville's true name, and details the sad story of the end of her life when she was separated from her villainous husband whose exploits appear to have led to her suffering a mental and physical breakdown.

An account of Glanville and her involvement in collecting Lepidoptera, taken from the above, appears in Salmon (2000) pp. 106-08. (MD 1/03)

GLEADOW, F.

Gave 5 Coleoptera from the Himalayas to the NHM in 1901 (1901/48). (MD 1/03)

GLOYNE, C.

Published 'Captures of Coleoptera' in EWI, 8, 1860, pp. 67-68. (MD 1/03)

GODMAN, Frederick DuCane (15 January 1834 - 19 February 1919)

Mainly a Lepidopterist but he is included here as one of the central figures in Victorian entomology and as the owner of extensive Coleoptera collections amassed during his work on the Biologia Centrali-Americanum.

Godman was born at Park Hatch, Surrey, the third son of Joseph Godman. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge where he met the natural historian Osbert Salvin with whom he was to remain on close terms until Salvin's death in 1898. It was with Salvin that he undertook many collecting trips and compiled the monumental Biologia Centrali-Americanum which extended to 52 volumes including complete coverage of the Coleopterous fauna as then known. (The volume on Staphylinidae and water beetles alone runs to 824 quarto pages plus numerous coloured plates, which gives an indication of the magnitude of the undertaking.)

Godman was a man of many parts and established a reputation as a field naturalist, ornithologist and sportsman as well as an entomologist. In the Introductory volume to the Biologia he records how his interest in natural history and particularly entomology came to be dominant. Salvin and he had collected together at Cambridge. Salvin developed an interest in foreign material and had mounted two expeditions to Central America before August 1861 when he persuaded Godman to join him on a third trip to British Honduras and Guatemala. The expedition went well (though not all their activities would be looked upon favourably today particularly the practice of employing natives to cut down trees 'which shaded the objects we wished to photograph'!) and further cemented their friendship so that they determined to establish a joint Central American 'museum' of natural history in London to include all their collections. This was set up initially at 23 The Boltons, South Kensington, where Salvin had moved after his marriage in 1865. It was from this time Godman noted 'that we really did serious work together...[and] from thence onwards we spent the greater part of the week in London arranging our collections'. Later, he said of his friendship with Salvin: 'we were more intimately connected than most brothers'.

After Salvin was appointed Curator of Birds at Cambridge in 1873 Godman moved the collections to Tenterden Street, Hanover Square and, in 1878, to 10 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square. Both men appear to have been wealthy and were able to employ other entomologists to collect for them and to work on the collections as part of the process of compiling the Biologia. Amongst the Coleopterists was G.C. Champion, who acted as Godman's Secretary, and who subsequently wrote that he owed his career as an entomologist 'entirely to the encouragement, liberality, and friendship of Godman with whom [I]... remained in close association... for forty years' (EMM, 55, 1919, p. 90). By the time the collections were presented to the NHM the Coleoptera alone amounted to 85,920 specimens excluding 22,793 Curculionidae and 9,474 Staphylinidae. Included was the Janson collection of Elateridae (including that of Candeze) which Godman had acquired for the Central American species. The NHM also holds some of the pen-and-ink and water-colour drawings for the Biologia including 500 of beetles by Baron Max Schlereth for vols II (1887-1890) and IV (1884-1910) (listed in Harvey et al. (1996) pp. 87-88.

There also 6650 insects including beetles, being duplicates of the Biologia material in the HDO (Smith (1986) pp. 121-22).

It is clear that not all the collections were devoted to Central America for in 1865 Godman made a trip to the Azores taking with him the Coleopterist J.A. Brewer. This subsequently resulted in a detailed account of the flora and fauna published in 1870 which included 212 Coleoptera. These were named by G.R. Crotch and also passed into the collections of the NHM. After a further trip to Central America when he spent most of his time in Mexico, Godman travelled to India in 1886 in company with the Lepidopterist H.J. Elwes, and later to Switzerland. Neither of these trips appears to have involved Coleoptera.

Publication of the Biologia, which included 38 volumes on Insecta, commenced in 1879 and was completed in 1915, Godman undertaking the work of assembling the material himself after Salvin's death. Salvin and Godman wrote the volumes on birds and Lepidoptera, Rhopalacera, and Champion, Bates, Baly, Sharp and other Coleopterists the volumes on beetles. Amongst the illustrators was Robert H.F. Rippon, himself a Coleopterist, and whose life as a collector and publisher appears to have been modelled to some extent on that of Godman.

FRES from 1865, President 1891-92. FLS. He was also a Fellow of many other Societies and a Trustee of the British Museum.

Gilbert (1977) gives a full list of obituaries and other notices. (MD 1/03)

GODWIN-AUSTEN

A Colonel in the army recorded by Arrow (1917) to have collected Rutelinae in the Khasi Hills, Assam. He sold 530 insects including 10 beetles to the NHM in 1896 (1896/135) the register noting 'There were many more specimens...but they were too much mite eaten to be worth considering'.

Jonathan Cooter has pointed out to me that this is probably the same person after whom Mt. Godwin-Austen, now known as K2, the World's second highest peak, was named. (MD 1/03)

GOODENOUGH, Samuel

A Doctor. Frequent correspondent with John Curtis who asked him, for example, to 'save insects for me' (although he is not mentioned in G. Ordish, John Curtis, 1974). Probably the Goodenough mentioned by Marsham (1802) p. 423, as the captor of Dytiscus humeralis at Ealing. The 24th volume of the Naturalist's Miscellany (1812-1813) is dedicated to him. (MD 1/03)

GOODFELLOW, Walter

Gave Coleoptera from N. Ecuador and the Philippines to the NHM in 1901 and 1905 (1901/235, 1905/262). Lived in Bournemouth. (MD 1/03)

GOODIER, Rawdon

Did a considerable amount of work on mountain inhabiting species in Wales which was published in Nature in Wales, 11, 1968, pp. 57-67, and on leaving the country in 1968 donated 1000 Diptera and Coleoptera, many of which were mentioned in his work, to the NMW. Other specimens bearing his name are in the general collection at Doncaster Museum.

Goodier worked for the Nature Conservancy Council where he reached a senior position. (MD 1/03)

GOODMAN, A. de B.

Published 'Observations on the life history of Scarabaeus' in Trans. SLENHS, 1927, pp. 42-47. (MD 1/03)

GOODSIR, Harry

Mentioned by Murray (1853) pp. vii and viii: 'Our knowledge of the insects of the eastern part of the first of these counties [Fife] has been increased by the examination of a large collection made at St. Andrews by Mr Harry Goodsir, one of the surgeons of the unfortunate expedition under Franklin, which his brother, Prof. Goodsir, of the University of Edinburgh, kindly intrusted to me for examination.' (MD 1/03)

GOODWIN, Miss C. Wycliffe

Presented various insects including Coleoptera from Australia to the NHM in 1906 (1906/3). (MD 1/03)

GORDON, J.

Coleoptera collected by Gordon are in the Hall collection at Oldham (information from Simon Hayhow). (MD 1/03)

GORDON, Thomas H.M.

Captured the first Kent specimen of Paratillus carus Newman in a bus between Maidstone and Sevenoaks (EMM, 96, 1961, p. 220). I am grateful to Jonathan Cooter who has provided me with the following note about him 'Lived for some time in Kent, retired to (or whilst at) Bishopbriggs, in the northern suburbs of Glasgow. Left his collection in its home-made cabinet to the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow University, in turn presented to the City Museum and Art Gallery, Kelvingrove. Weak on small species, staphs etc., but contains some interesting species presumably obtained as duplicates from Massee.'

Since the above was written Geoff Hancock has sent me a considerable amount of information about Gordon's collection including an account in the Glasgow Naturalist, 19(2), 1974, pp. 143-144, by Ronald M. Dobson, of its donation to the Glasgow Natural History Society: 'The Gordon collection is the product of 54 years of study and contains approximately 1700 species of British Coleoptera... Representatives of about 700 of these species have been identified by the recognised authorities J.J. Walker, G.C. Champion, F. Balfour-Browne and A.M. Massee. Details of specimens thus authenticated are entered in a notebook kept with the collection [This still survives].

Species are arranged and named according to the Hudson Beare Catalogue of 1930 and 71 out of the 75 families recogised there are represented. Inevitably the coverage, though wide, is unequal. Amongst the important families, Carabidae, Dystiscidae, Coccinellidae, Scarabaeidae, Elateridae, Cantharidae and Chrysomelidae are well represented; Staphylinidae, Silphidae and Curculionidae are somewhat less so. 'Problem' families such as Scydmaenidae and Trichopterygidae are, as in most collections, poorly covered and this is also true of small species of Staphylinidae such as Atheta.

The geographical origins of the collection are many and widespread. About one-sixth of the specimens came from the Clyde area and about as many from Kent. The remainder derived from various localities including Devon, the New Forest, Windsor, Delamere, Cannock Chase, Snowdon, Islay, Aviemore and Sutherland.

All specimens have been carefully set and mounted on standardised cards and, in the great majority of instances, brief data on origin, collector and date are written on the underside of the cards. Precise details of locality and ecological relationships are, however, lacking... At present the collection is housed in its own cabinet, the handiwork of Mr Gordon himself, but in the course of time specimens may be transferred to fill lacunae in the more complete collections in the Department. All specimens transferred will, however, be given labels to indicate their origin and ownership'.

A second article (19(6), 1979, 362) noted that the collection had been transferred from the Hunterian Museum to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Garth Foster has been through the water beetles and catalogued them in detail. Sample pages from his work indicate that the collection includes specimens collected by J.D. Leslie, E.J. Pearce, G.A. Hardy, D. Wotherspoon, A. Fergusson, J.J. Richardson, T. Edmonds and J.S. Sharpe. (MD 1/03)

GORE CUTHBERT, H.K.

See under CUTHBERT

GORE, H.J. (1814 - 3 September 1889)

For many years the Rector of Rusper, near Horsham. This was the parish to which H.S. Gorham (see below) was at one time attached and Gore and he appear to have been friends (see, for example, Gorham diary entries for 1871). He was certainly interested in entomology by the 1860s for he was one of the original subscribers to the EMM. His brief obituary in this magazine records that he was an 'assiduous collector chiefly of British Coleoptera but published very little, (25, 1889, p.402). One article which I have traced was 'Cryptocephalus frontalis, Marsham' in EMM, 22, 1886, p.186.

There are specimens collected by Gore in York Museum (I am grateful to Mike Denton for this information). (MD 1/03)

GORHAM, Henry Stephen (1839 - 22 March 1920)

Youngest son of the Reverend G. Cornelius Gorham, vicar of Brampford Speke, a well known divine and antiquary and party to a famous, successful law suit against Henry Philpotts, Bishop of Exeter, in 1848, arising because the Bishop refused to institute Gorham to his living on the grounds of his alleged unorthodoxy in the matter of infant baptism.

Gorham was educated at Rugby School and for ten years took up the profession of Civil Engineer in London. He then studied for the church at Lichfield Theological College and was ordained in 1865 to a curacy at Ilam. Subsequently moved to Needlewood, Bearstead, Enfield and Rusper before settling as Vicar of Shipley, Sussex in 1873. He remained there for eleven years before retiring to Shirley Warren near Southampton and, in 1905 to Great Malvern.

His involvement in entomology had certainly developed by 1858 when he is listed in Ent. Ann. as interested in Lepidoptera, but by 1860 this had changed to Coleoptera alone. As a Coleopterist Gorham is probably best known for his work on tropical species particularly the 'Malacodermata' and Erotylidae, Endomychidae and Coccinelidae on which he published volumes in the Biologia Centrali-Americana series (1880-86 and 1887-89 respectively). The Endomychidae also formed the subject of another major publication Endomycici Recitati which appeared in 1873 (Gorham's own annotated copy is in the NHM). Numerous shorter notes commenced with 'a note about Lepidoptera in Zoo., 18, 1860, p. 6905 (seven years earlier than the first article which Tomlin in his obituary of Gorham in EMM mentions) which was followed by a dozen or so others on British species until 1873 when most are devoted to foreign insects. (Three volumes of his published papers annotated by Gorham himself, are in the NHM).

Gorham collected widely in the UK and exchanged insects extensively with other collectors as is recorded in his manuscript diary now in the Birmingham Museum (I am grateful to M. Bryan for making this available to me). The Diary, which covers the period 1868-1897, has formed the subject of a detailed series of articles by Jonathan Cooter: 'Rev. H.S.Gorham and some 19thC records' in ERJV, 90, 1978 pp. 282-286; 91, 1979, pp.18-22, 150-153 and 197-204. Cooter includes a portrait photograph (from the RESL library), illustrations of several pages and full extracts of many entries chosen 'as being representative but perhaps somewhat biased towards rarity and by personal opinion'.

The diary is fascinating as providing a detailed insight into the activities of a dedicated Coleopterist in the second half of the last century. He received specimens from Gillo, Fowler, Lewis, Lawson, Matthews, Saunders, Hardy, Rye, Hodgson, Smith, Janson, Moncreaff, Lloyd, Walker, Blatch, Harris, Llewellyn and others, and collected with Sharp (a near neighbour when he lived at Shirley Warren), Champion, Gore, Stevens, Donisthorpe, Power, Gulliver, Brewer, Verrall and others. Cooter discusses the problems of relating the entries which detail some of the specimens taken, some of which were new to the British list (e.g. Bembidium quadripustulatum and Oxytelus fulvipes), and received with the specimens in Gorham's collection.

As far as Gorham's collections are concerned it is clear that they were of prodigious extent. In his obituary of Gorham in EMM. Tomlin states 'The extensive collections of beetles made by him, including that of the well-known artist Armitage (which was bequeathed to Gorham by its owner who died on 20 May 1896) have mostly passed into the hands of Continental or American workers. The Endomychids which included the Guérin and Deyrolle collections and contained many types, were acquired by the British Museum [NHM] in 1891; the Lycidae were purchased by Bourgeois and the Lampyridae by Olivier, these collections, on the death of their respective owners passing into the Paris Museum; the Telephoridae, Melyridae etc. were sold to M. Pic, the Coccinellidae to M. Sicard, and the Erotylidae, we believe to the Deutschen Entomologischen Museum in Berlin'. This account was published too soon after Gorham's death to mention the sale by J.C. Stevens of 111 lots of exotic beetles and books on 12 October 1920 which remained in Gorham's possession and which occupied more than 230 store boxes. Nor does it mention Gorham's extensive British collection which was passed via J.A. Dysson Perrins of Malvern to the Birmingham Museum in two cabinets of twenty drawers each (for many years the collection was on loan to the Geology Department at the University). Finally, another collection was acquired by the NHM in 1927 (1927-143)

Smith (1986) p. 123 records that the HDO purchased at auction in March 1877 lot 286, 76 specimens (52 species) of Cleridae for 3s 6d, and that they also acquired in 1903 four examples of Erotylidae named by Gorham from the Congo and New South Wales. On p. 77 she records that there are also in the HDO 'Notebooks and miscellaneous manuscript notes, including catalogue of species and genera of Coleoptera described by him since 1873; album of photographs of well-known entomologists; two small flower paintings and a few letters' The last including a letter to Westwood, 1882, in the HDO.

In addition to the NHM's 1891 purchase which included 790 examples of 360 species including 149 types (but these figures also included Bates's types of Amphix as well as other material added by G.Lewis (letter Pope to Cooter 28 April 1977)) Gorham also gave at least six smaller collections to the Museum (1859/98, 1859/125, 1861/112, 1901/94, 1903/187 and 1904/15).

In addition to his entomological interests Gorham also made extensive collections of stamps and coins - he was a well known numismatist.

FRES from 1885; FZS from 1881; and a Member of the Societé Entomologique de France from 1887.

There are portraits in oils of both Gorham and his wife Clara d'Orville Gorham by A.H. Smith of c.1910 in the NHM.

I am grateful to Jonathan Cooter for the following additional information: 'Alas his collection is still on loan to Birmingham University. It contained, when I worked there in 1975, Ampedus miniatus Lectotype and 2 of the 3 British Cassida chloris (To use Gorham's name; the 3rd specimen is long lost). As a 'tool' in the Quaternary Geol. Lab. various specimens were dismembered so their component parts could be more easily matched to sub-fossil fragments. A great pity, more so as it is a good collection and much data can be tied up with specimens via the Diary...'. (MD 1/03)

GORY, M.H.

Presented 12 Coleoptera to the NHM on 23 June 1841. Perhaps related to A. and H.L.Gory see Smith (1986) p. 77 for MS material in the HDO. (MD 1/03)

GOSSE, Philip Henry (6 April 1810 - 23 August 1888)

This is the well known zoologist, Plymouth Brother and father of Sir Edmund Gosse whose famous autobiographical account of his childhood, Father and Son (first published anonymously in 1907), described in detail his father's fanaticism. Gosse's zoological work focussed in particular on marine biology but in his early life also included Coleoptera.

He was born in Worcester the son of Thomas Gosse, a miniature painter and writer. After moving to Coventry and Leicester shortly after birth his parents settled at Poole in Dorset. It was here that Gosse was noticed by Mrs Bell, the mother of Professor Thomas Bell and herself a scientist, who encouraged him to collect sea-anemones and to study insects. After going to school, firstly at Poole and then at Blandford, circumstances took him in the early part of 1827 to a whaler's office in the little town of Carbonear in Newfoundland where he remained until 1835. It was during these eight years of seclusion that he became fascinated by natural history. His interest in insects appears to have been given a particular stimulus by the study of microscopy which he took up in 1832 after acquiring a copy of Adams, Essays on the Microscope.

After leaving Newfoundland he bought a farm at Compton in Canada where he wrote The Entomology of Newfoundland which still remains unpublished. He then travelled for several years before returning to Liverpool, writing while on the voyage the Canadian Naturalist which was well received on publication in 1840. After setting up in London as a school master and publishing an Introduction to Zoology, 1843, he was hired by the British Museum to undertake the collecting of undescribed birds and insects in Jamaica. He remained there for a year and a half sending home many rare animals of all descriptions. The Coleoptera, amounting to more than 300 specimens, were received by the museum through Mr Cuming in four batches (1845/110, 1846/84, 1847/62, 1848/36). Thenceforth, he devoted his life mainly to non-entomological work and did not travel out of the country again. One of the few entomological publications he did complete, 'On the prehensile Armature of the Papilionidae' appeared just three years before his death.

There is a full account of Gosse and bibliography in DNB. See also R.B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography, 1980. (MD 1/03)

GOULD

Sold various insects to the NHM in the early 1840s including 178 Coleoptera (1842/1) and a further 3 (1841/10). Might this be perhaps John Gould who gave insects from Brazil to the Museum at this time? (MD 1/03)

GOULD, A.F.

A member of the African Entomological Research Committee which presented various insects including Coleoptera to the NHM in 1912 (1912/119). (MD 1/03)

GOULD, A.W.

Member of the British Entomological and Natural History Society from 1949 with interests in Coleoptera alone. Lived at 20 Westbrook Road, Blackheath, London SE3. His collection was acquired from his widow by A.A. Allen but was very badly damaged as a result of poor storage conditions. This is the 'A.E.Gould' mentioned on cards belonging to the British Entomological and Natural History Society as a collector of beetles at Ashtead Common (information from John Owen).

Ernest Lewis has written to tell me that he remembers Gould as an enthusiastic collector on South London field meetings and a participant in their indoor gatherings. He was listed in the 1985 list of members and was married to Miss F.A. ASHBY (see above). (MD 1/03)

GOULD, Mrs F.A.

Wife of A.W. Gould. Member of the British Entomological and Natural History Society from 1956 interested in Coleoptera alone. (MD 1/03)

GOWER, Anthony Mervyn (b. 24 August 1939)

Worked on Odonata and Coleoptera. Member of the Balfour-Browne Club. Attached at one time to Department of Biological Studies at Plymouth Polytechnic. Lived in 1961 at Neath in South Wales.

FRES from 1961 - before 2002. (MD 3/03)

GRADDON, W.D.

Referred to by H.W. Daltry in EMM, 84, 1948, p. 9: 'My friend Mr W.D. Graddon, of Congleton, Cheshire, a mycologist who has recently also become interested in Coleoptera'. (MD 1/03)

GRADWELL, George Ronald (1928 - July 1974)

Educated at St. Peter's College, Oxford from 1944 but spent three years as a radio mechanic in the RNVR before taking his degree in 1950. He then joined the HDO where he remained for 21 years firstly as assistant to G.C. Varley and then as 'valued collaborator' in their joint research into the insect populations of Wytham Wood. In 1963 he was appointed University Lecturer in entomology and a Senior Research Fellow of his College. In 1971 he was appointed Lecturer in Forest Entomology and had just started a research programme into Dutch Elm Disease when he died.

Amongst other duties Gradwell was Treasurer of the Oxford Entomological Society and the British Trust for Entomology. He was also an expert editor and co-edited the book Dynamics of Populations (1971). He was joint author with G.C. Varley and M.P. Hassell of Insect Population Ecology (1974).

There are obituaries in Bull.Brit.Ecol.Soc., 4, 1974, p.5 and in Proc. RESL, 39, 1974-75, p. 55. (MD 1/03)

GRAHAM, Edward G.

Published 'Captures [of Coleoptera] near Preston' in Weekly Entomologist, 1, 1862, 119, and 'Relaxing Coleoptera' in Naturalist, 1, 1865, 111. M. Denton Ground Beetles in the Yorkshire Museum, 1993, p. 7 lists Graham as one of the collectors who supplied specimens to H. Willoughby Ellis. (MD 1/03)

GRAHAM, N.C.

Published a number of notes about insects in Ent. between 1878 amd 1881. These included 'Gnorimus variabilis' (12, 1879, pp. 20-21) and 'Prionus coriarius at Richmond Park' (13, 1880, p.21). (MD 1/03)

GRANT, Frederick Thomas (21 August 1870 - 27 August 1859)

Born at Maidstone, Kent. After leaving school was articled to Messers Ruck and Smith, architects and surveyors. Became involved in particular with local government work and, at the early age of 29, was appointed Borough Engineer and Surveyor at Gravesend, a position he held for 38 years, before his retirement in 1938. He was a Rotarian and President at one time of the local Historical, Literary and Scientific Society.

As a boy Grant was interested in the Lepidoptera but his friendship with a group of enthusiastic local entomologists which included G.E. Frisby, a Coleopterist and Hymenopterist, encouraged him to take up these groups. His work on Coleoptera subsequently led him to make several interesting captures including Catopidius depressus Murray, on an office window in Gravesend, which K.G. Blair introduced on his behalf to the British list (EMM, 78, 1942, p.172). Other interesting captures were Conopalpus testaceus Ol. at Cobham; Heterostomus villiger Reitter at Ringwood; and Otiorrhynchus porcatus which he took in some numbers in his garden.

T.R.E. Southwood, who wrote his obituary in Proc. SLENHS, 1959, pp. xliii-xliv, (with portrait), and who admitted that his 'early footsteps in the 'other orders'' were guided by Grant 'whose knowledge, not only of entomology, but of zoology in general, was wider and deeper than he himself was prepared to admit', wrote of him: 'He was an accurate and precise man in all he did, his collections are models of good mounting and besides full data labels on every specimen, he kept detailed journals. These were arranged both under species and serially, each group of individuals of the same species taken on the same day being alloted a number. His serial journal for Coleoptera contains 7645 entries, which must represent the collection, mounting and identifying of over 10,000 specimens. The first were collected in 1926 and the last, which are perfectly mounted as all the others, in 1950, when he was eighty years of age.'

'Much of his collecting was done in Cobham Park, Kent, often in company with Capt. J.A. Stephens, but like so many entomologists he spent his holidays in localities such as Wicken Fen, the New Forest and the Lake District. He also took numerous specimens as he went about his duties in Gravesend'.

Grant's collections were bequeathed to the BENHS. After extraction of 'the material required' (James & Gardner (1973) p. 78) the remainder, together with his journals, passed via Southwood to the Imperial College Field Station at Silwood Park. (MD 1/03)

James Hogan informs me that Grant's collection was acquired by the HDO from Imperial College in late 2002 and that it has now been incorporated into the main British collection. Notebooks and photographs of each of the drawers before incorporation are also in the Department. The collection includes material from G.E. Frisby, T.R.E. Southwood and O.W. Richards. (MD 10/03)

GRANT, J.H. (d. 1948)

Not recorded by Gilbert (1977) but there is a brief obituary in Proc. RESL, 12 (C), 1947-48, p. 64. He was chiefly associated with the Birmingham area and was Secretary of the Entomological Section of the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society for twelve years. The Lepidoptera are recorded to have been his chief interest 'but he also had a large collection of exotic ... Coleoptera'. His other interests included archaeology and malacology. (MD 1/03)

GRANT, M.H.

Published two notes on beetles in Ent., 21, 1888, p. 92: 'Carabus monilis in January' and 'Odontaeus mobilicornis in the Isle of Wight'. (MD 1/03)

GRAVELY, F.

This name appears on Coleoptera in the collection of the Pusa Institute, Delhi. (MD 1/03)

GRAY, George Robert (8 July 1808 - 6 May 1872)

Primarily an Ornithologist but well known to entomologists as one of the Keepers at the Zoological Department at the British Museum (Natural History). His entomological writings were mainly on Lepidoptera but did include one or two notes about exotic beetles including a description of a new species of Goliathus (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1864, p. 34.

Gray was the brother of J.E. Gray (see below) and a friend of J.G. Children, whose collections he re-arranged. Gilbert (1977) lists seven obituaries and other notices to which may be added that in EMM, 9, 1872-73, pp. 23-24. (MD 1/03)

GRAY, John (1812 - 1881)

A textile manufacturer of Haulgh, Bolton who retired from business in order to take up yachting and eventually died at Claygate, Surrey. It was in Gray's yacht 'The Miranda' that Hamlet Clark made his voyage to Brazil and in which Wollaston made most of his voyages to the Atlantic Islands. In a brief obituary in EMM, 18, 1878, pp.190-191, the writer notes that it was during these voyages that Gray showed himself 'a most enthusiastic collector and acute observer' of insects.

Geoff Hancock, seeking information about Gray in EMM, 112, 1976, 211, noted that a collection of exotic Coleoptera and Hymenoptera made by him in a mahogany twenty drawer cabinet was acquired by Bolton Museum as a purchase from Alderman Smith in 1904. The specimens are marked with a 'G' or 'Gray Colln.' He also notes a reference in Chalmers-Hunt (1976), to an auction of collections including European Coleoptera and a library made by John Gray, formerly of Bolton, at Stevens' Rooms on 22-23 October 1883, part of which was bought by the Museum in St. Petersburgh.

FRES from 1850 and one of the original subscribers to the EMM. (MD 1/03)

GRAY, John (d.1910)

Published 'Description of a new Coleopterous insect belonging to the genus Prionus from India' in Naturalist, 4, 1854, pp.158-59. Also published one or two notes on entomology in Scotland. Mentioned by Murray (1853) p.vii.

Mike Denton informs me that there are specimens in the Willoughby Ellis collection in York Museum collected by J. Gray which probably refer to this Gray.

There is an obituary notice in Glasgow Naturalist, 2, 1910, pp. 68-69 which I have not seen. (MD 1/03)

GRAY, John Edward (1800 - 7 March 1875)

Brother of George Robert (see above). Not a Coleopterist in particular but as Assistant (1824-1840) and then Keeper (1840- 1874) of the Zoological Department at the British Museum, he was certainly involved not just with the Coleoptera collections but also with many Coleopterists. Gray was born at Walsall, Staffordshire, and intended to make his career in the medical profession. He was befriended at an early age, however, together with J.O. Westwood, by A.H. Haworth. The two 'students' arranged Haworth's collections of books and insects, and perhaps it was this experience that persuaded Gray to give up the medical profession and join the Museum.

During the course of his career at the Museum Gray published more than 700 papers on all aspects of natural history but as far as I can ascertain very few were devoted to entomology and only one mentions Coleoptera 'Cicindela sylvatica occurred here [Esher] as early as 13th April this year' (EMM, 9, 1872, p. 11) He achieved a good reputation for the many important accessions made to the collections during his time as Keeper, but his obituaries mention that he was very fond of controversy and that this appears to have made him a difficult colleague. Some of his purchases for the Museum were funded from his own pocket.

Gray held prominent positions at one time or another with most of the London societies devoted to natural history studies. Gilbert (1977) lists eight obituaries and other notices. (MD 1/03)

GREAVES, Cyril A.

Published a note on Coccinelidae in Scientific Gossip, 10, 1874, p. 140. (MD 1/03)

GREEN, D.

Mentioned by Marsham (1802) p.39 as the captor of Scarabaeus varius 'in campis apertis sussexiae'. (MD 1/03)

GREEN, Edward Ernest (20 February 1861 - 2 July 1949)

Born in Ceylon where his father, John Philip Green, was a planter. Educated in England but returned to Ceylon at the age of nineteen to assist in the management of his father's estate. He soon became interested in Coccids and other pests, and in 1897 was appointed Honorary Entomologist to the Ceylon Government. Two years later he was appointed Government Entomologist, a position he held until 1913 when he retired to the the UK after suffering from malaria.

Green is best known as a world authority on the Coccidae, but it is clear from volumes in the FBI series, and from his many publications on insect pests, that he also collected and was familiar with the Coleoptera.

FRES from 1891, President 1923-24, Vice-President 1915, 1925.

There are obituaries in EMM, 85, 1949, pp. 215-216; Nature, 164, 1949, p. 398, and Proc. RESL, 14(C), 1949-50, p. 64. (MD 1/03)

GREEN, H.P.

Mentioned by Arrow (1917) as collecting Rutelinae at Colombo. (MD 1/03)

GREEN, James

Attached to the Zoology Department at Bedford College, London in 1952 where he worked on the ecology of Coleoptera.

FRES from 1952. (MD 3/03)

GREENE, Joseph (1804-1926)

Well known Lepidopterist. His volume The Insect Hunter's Companion, which ran to three editions, does include a chapter on Coleoptera. Interestingly he advocates pinning through the left elytron which may account for insects mounted in this way in collections. (MD 1/03)

GREENING, Linnaeus (1855-1927)

Hancock & Pettit (1981) mention that Greening was a Curator of Warrington Museum and donated to it various natural history collections including insects and spiders. (MD 1/03)

GREENSLADE, Ralph Michael (14 September 1908 - 24 February 1975)

Well known economic entomologist who worked with A.M. Massee at East Malling Research Station for ten years on biology and control of apple blossom weevil and of woolly aphid. In 1942 he joined W.E. Ripper in Pest Control Ltd and was involved in the earliest formulations of DDT. He subsequently became a manager and much involved in translation from French, German, Dutch and Russian. As a result of illness he went part-time in 1967 before retiring early in 1969. Throughout his working life he maintained an interest in British Hemiptera and Coleoptera as a hobby.

Greenslade's collections were bequeathed to John Heath (Monks Wood) and his books were sold.

There is an obituary in Proc. RESL, 40, 1975-76, p. 51.

FRES from 1936. Council 1946-1948. (MD 3/03)

GREGORY

A Captain. His name and the date 1907 appears on Coleoptera in the Pusa Institute at Delhi. (MD 1/03)

GREGSON, Charles Stuart (29 September 1817 - 31 January 1899)

Northern Lepidopterist who also had an interest in Coleoptera. He was born in Lancaster but moved to Liverpool where he was in occupation as a ship painter and plumber. His extensive list of publications includes a few articles on Coleoptera, the most important of which is 'On the Coleoptera of the district around Liverpool' in Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancashire and Cheshire, 1, 1861, pp.33-44 and 2, 1862, pp. 167-170, which, in spite of its title refers to ground beetles alone. Sharpe (1908) p.13 was somewhat critical of Gregson's list noting that 'his zeal and perseverance as a collector were hardly equalled by his critical knowledge as a Coleopterist. It is not to be taken as absolutely free from error. It was, however, the first attempt at anything like a local list of the order, and was to a great extent incorporated in the very different work of Dr Ellis...'.

There are specimens collected by Gregson in the J.W. Ellis collection at Liverpool, and Geoff Hancock sent me some notes which indicate that Gregson's name appears on material at Glasgow from the Notre Dame Teacher Training College which may in turn have come from the Glasgow University Zoology Department (Hunterian Museum).

Obituaries appear EMM, 35, 1899, pp. 96-97 and Ent., 32, 1899, p. 144. (MD 1/03)

GREVILLE, Robert Kaye (1794-1866)

A Doctor. Published 'Additions to the entomology of the Edinburgh District' in Mag. Zool. Bot. 1, 1837, pp. 494-495. Murray (1853) p.vii mentions that Greville also collected in Forfar. His son R.N. Greville was a Coleopterist too (see below).

He published three notes on Coleoptera: 'Additions to the Entomologia Edinensis', Ent., 1, 1840-42, pp. 184-185; 'Note on the capture of Rhinomacer attelaboides near Edinburgh', Zoo., 1, 1843, p. 272; and 'Note on the capture of Coleopterous insects near Edinburgh', ibid., 340. (MD 1/03)

GREVILLE, Robert(?) Northmore

Murray (1853) p.vii mentions that Robert Northmore was the son of Robert Kaye Greville (see above), and thanks both father and son for adding to his list of Coleoptera from the Edinburgh area. He published 'On the capture of Coleoptera at Stirling', Zoo., 2, 1844, pp. 698-699; and 'Tenacity of Life in Rhagium bifasciatum', ibid., 6, 1848, p. 2217.

According to the Accessions Register at the RSM 'A Cabinet of British Coleoptera' was purchased by the College Museum, Edinburgh in 1855-56 from 'Greville'. This could be either R.N. or R.K. Greville. A second purchase of 30 boxes of insects other than Lepidoptera was made in 1858 (Accession no. 1858-13). Greville also gave Coleoptera to the NHM in 1838 and 1839 (22 October, 7 December 1838 and 26 August 1839. The last included specimens of Passalus and Hispa). (MD 1/03)

GREY, Mr

A Captain. Gave more than 300 insects including Coleoptera to the NHM on 16 December 1840. This is possibly the same Grey who gave a further 32 Coleoptera from the Caucasus, St. Petersburgh and Siberia in 1847 (1847/20). See also J. GUTCH. (MD 1/03)

GRIERSON, P.H.

Listed by Johnson & Halbert (1901) p. 542 as a collector of Irish Coleoptera. Specific references also appear in the text. He is not mentioned in Ryan, et al. (1984). (MD 1/03)

GRIESBACH family

Anne Jarvis (a descendant) and Angie Bish have both been doing extensive work on the Griesbach family and have much information to add to the entries below. (MD 10/03)

GRIESBACH, Alexander (Andrew?) William

A Reverend who lived at Wollaston, near Wellingborough, Northants. One of four sons of George Leopold Jacob Griesbach, a music teacher of Windsor, all of whom were Coleopterists. (See J.H. GRIESBACH). He was a member of the Entomological Society and appears to be the only one of the family to have published. Two notes appeared under his name: 'On the existence of natural genera', Ent. Mag., 1, 1833, pp. 296-301, and 'Note on the economy of Gyrinus villosus', ibid., 4, 1837, p. 254.

MacKechnie-Jarvis (19 ) states that 'The Rev. Andrew Griesbach is said to have been the first systematic collector of beetles in Cambridgeshire and worked the Fens extensively'. (MD 1/03)

GRIESBACH, A.G.

One of four sons of George Leopold Jacob Griesbach, a music teacher of Windsor, all of whom were Coleopterists. (See J.H. GRIESBACH). He was a Member of the Entomological Society. (MD 1/03)

GRIESBACH, C.

In Ent. Ann., 1856, p. 86, E.W. Janson mentions that J. Curtis had obtained his specimens of Ampedus subcarinatus Germ. 'from the collection of the late Mr C. Griesbach, who captured them near Windsor'. MacKechnie-Jarvis (19) does not mention a C. Griesbach. (MD 1/03)

GRIESBACH, Henry G.

One of four sons of George Leopold Jacob Griesbach, a music teacher of Windsor, all of whom were Coleopterists. (See J.H. GRIESBACH). He was a Member of the Entomological Society. (MD 1/03)

GRIESBACH, John Henry (1798 - 1875)

Most of my information about Griesbach and other members of the family (see above and below) is taken from MacKechnie-Jarvis (1976) who illustrates a family tree showing how the Griesbachs were related by marriage to the Waterhouse and Rye families. (Elizabeth Ann Griesbach, sister of the four sons of George Leopold Jacob Griesbach, married George Robert Waterhouse, the Coleopterist and Keeper of Minerals at the NHM).

John Henry, a 'Cellist and Composer of Windsor' was also a Coleopterist. MacKechnie-Jarvis says of the family: 'Stephens published a number of their records from the Windsor area and it is well known that up to 1930 some of their captures had never been repeated. They were a musical family who came to England from Halle in Hanover to join Queen Charlotte's band and also played as a family chamber orchestra. In my earlier days some members of our society [BENHS] were convinced that they had 'fiddled' the records, but the Griesbach honour was abundantly redeemed when Adelocera quercus [Lacon querceus] (Herbst)... was rediscovered at Windsor and restored to the British list in 1936 [by A.A. Allen]'.

The name Griesbach appears on labels in the Waterhouse Collection in the RSM. (MD 1/03)

GRIESBACH, W.G.

One of four sons of George Leopold Jacob Griesbach, a music teacher of Windsor, all of whom were Coleopterists. (See J.H. GRIESBACH). (MD 1/03)

GRIFFIN, M.J.

'The Late Mr Griffin' is mentioned by Stephens (1828) as the captor of various beetles e.g. vol.1, pp. 83,161. Both these captures were made near Norwich. Possibly related to R. GRIFFIN, see below. (MD 1/03)

GRIFFIN, R.

The Accessions Register at the Castle Museum, Norwich records that various insects from India were acquired in 1837 from R. Griffin. (MD 1/03)

GRIFFITH, Dr

Arrow (1917) p. 243 mentions Dr Griffith as collecting specimens in the Khasi Hills. (MD 1/03)

GRIFFITH, Charles Fitzroy (1912 - 24 May 1993)

Born in Wormit-on-Tay and read chemistry at St. Andrews University where he was President of the Union and of the Mountaineering Club. His interest in natural history began when he was appointed in 1936 to a post at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington. In 1936 he went to work for Pilkington Research Laboratories at St Helens. The Department moved to Lathom in 1960, seven years before Griffith took early retirement.

Griffith’s interest in insects started in 1944 and according to Bowstead who wrote Griffith’s obituary in EMM, 130, 1994, pp. 175-76: 'quickly settled on the Coleoptera. His collection gradually specialising in the Staphylinidae [specially] Atheta...he made great use of Victor Hansen's excellent Danmarks Fauna volume...As his knowledge developed he was able to work through the Harwood Collection duplicates for the Hope Department of Entomology at Oxford.'

His collection of some 8000 beetles and 300 other insects was donated to the Manchester Museum where he was on friendly terms with several of the curators. The collection includes old material from the Oxford district ex coll. Joseph Collins. By far the most important material is the Aleocharinae.

The obituary mentioned above is the source for the article in Underwood (1966), pp. 98-100. Both include a portrait photograph.

FRES from 1955. Member of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. Founder member of the Raven Entomological and Natural History Society of which he was Vice President 1960-80. (MD 3/03)

GRIMSHAW, P.H.

Gave 69 insects including beetles from Aberlady, Gullane and Gosford Bay, near Edinburgh, to the RSM in 1893 (Accession no. 1893-102). (MD 1/03)

GRIMSTON, Mr

Mentioned by Dawson (1854) p.66 as 'recently' taking three examples of Chlaenius holosericeus at Hornsey on the Yorkshire coast. (MD 1/03)

GUERMONPREZ, Henry Leopold Foster (5 July 1851 - 21 December 1924)

Known as 'The Gilbert White of Bognor', Guermonprez made extensive collections of natural history and other interests which were given by his family to the County Council in 1943 for the formation of a museum in Bognor Regis. After being housed in a series of temporary premises between 1943 and 1972 it was moved to Portsmouth Museum. The large collection of insects includes several boxes of beetles and related documentation.

Guermonprez is mentioned in the insect volume of the VCH for Sussex (1905) and there are obituaries in Littlehampton Nature and Archaeology Circle Report of Proceedings, 1924; West Sussex Gazette, 1 January 1925; and The Post, Bognor Regis, 30 November 1957. (MD 1/03)

GUICHARD, K.M.

Beetles bearing this name are in the D.G. Hall collection, North Hertfordshire Museum, Baldock. He lived at 54 Middleton Street, London, EC1 (information from Trevor James). (MD 1/03)

GUILDING, Lansdown (1780 - 1832?)

A Reverend. Published various notes on tropical insects including Coleoptera in Trans. ESL and Mag. Nat. Hist. between 1822 and 1834.

The birth and death dates given above are taken from Hagen (1862). Gilbert (1977), gives 1797-1831. Neither death date seems to fit with NHM purchase of 167 insects from him, mainly Cerambycidae, on 17 July 1839.

Gilbert mentions an account of him in N. Papavero, Essays on the History of Neo-Tropical Dipterology, 2 iii, 1975, pp.219-221, which I have not seen.

Smith (1986) p.123 records that there are two cabinets in the HDO acquired by Hope Deed of Gift in 1849. (MD 1/03)

GUILLAME, George

Lived in Southampton. Gave Buprestidae to the NHM on 7 November 1839. (MD 1/03)

GUISE, Sir William Vernon (19 August 1816 - 24 August 1887)

Eldest son of General Sir John Wright Guise, third baronet. Educated at the Royal Military College Sandhurst and subsequently pursued a career in the military. Lived at Elmore Court, Gloucestershire, and from 1872 was Sheriff of the county.

Very little is known of Guise's interest in Coleoptera except that he did collect locally and published a list of Gloucestershire beetles in EWI, 1859 (I am grateful to David Atty for this reference which he found since publishing his Coleoptera of Gloucestershire, 1983).

There are short accounts of Guise in F. Boase, Modern English Biography, 1965, p. 527, Illustrated London News, 1 October 1887, p. 400, and Proc. LSL, 1890, p. 92. (MD 1/03)

GULLIVER, George James (d.1931)

Lived at 2 Oaks Villa, Brockenhurst, Hampshire. Gave his insect collection including Coleoptera to the Birmingham Museum in 1914 (Accessions Book no 18. 10 August). Two years earlier he had presented 36 examples of British Coleoptera (4 July 1912. A note dated 1963 indicates that these were then included in the general collection).

There is a specimen of Velleius dilatatus (F.) with a label bearing Gulliver's name and 'Brockenhurst.8.viii.94' in the B.S. Williams collection at Liverpool Museum.

There is an obituary in Ent., 64, 1931, p. 192. (MD 1/03)

Sharon Reid at the Central Science Laboratory (DEFRA), York, informs me that there are specimens collected by Gulliver in the F. Bates collection there (see BATES, F. and WILLIAMS, B.S.) (MD 10/03)

GURNEY, J.H.

The Register in the Castle Museum, Norwich records that Gurney gave 200 British Coleoptera to the Museum in 1851 and 6 foreign examples in the following year. He was also involved in the Sparshall gift to the Museum in 1845.

Perhaps this is the Joseph Gurney of Grove, Lakenham who subscribed for two copies of Denny (1825). (Daniel Gurney, Hudson Gurney, J.J.Gurney and Miss Gurney, all of different addresses, were also subscribers). (MD 1/03)

GUTCH, J. (W.G.?)

Gave more than a hundred Coleoptera from Russia 'named by Mr Grey, St. Petersburgh' to the NHM on 6 June 1856. Perhaps this is the same Gutch who had earlier given 13 Coleoptera from Servia (1845/128) and 4 others (1847/47). (MD 1/03)

GUTHRIE, David

Collector of Diptera and Coleoptera who lived in 1951 in London.

FRES from 1952 - before 2002. (MD 3/03)

GUYON, George (1825 - 28 February 1878)

Little is know of Guyon who was related to a Hungarian General. He lived at both Richmond and Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, and published notes on entomology, particularly Coleoptera, for some thirty years from 1845. These included 'Tenacity of life in Curculionidae', Zoo., 3, 1845, 1145; Note on Lamia textor, ibid., 8, 1850, 2961; several notes on aberrant forms; 'Larvae of the glow worm', ibid., 20, 1862, 8180; and 'The Colorado Beetle', Sci. Gossip., 11, 1875, 142. Perhaps his most important article on Coleoptera was 'A List of the British Species of Geodephaga' in Zoo., 8, 1855. I have not seen this last but presume it must be based on Dawson (1854). Dawson certainly referred to Guyon as 'his friend' (p.208).

Guyon's British collection was acquired by T.G. BISHOP (see above) and Michael Denton, Ground Beetles in the Yorkshire Museum, 1993, notes that there are specimens there.

FRES. There is an obituary in EMM, 14, 1878, pp. 263-264. (MD 1/03)

Last updated: 17 December 2003