Biographical dictionary
Michael would be pleased to hear from anyone wishing to make corrections or alterations to the Dictionary, which will be fully acknowledged. Email Michael Darby or write to Michael at 33 Bedwin Street, SALISBURY, Wiltshire, SP1 3UT.
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Name |
Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLANT, Francis | d. c.1865 | Leicestershire bookbinder who was the younger brother of John Plant. Lott (2009) states ‘He is first mentioned in 1854 as a collecting companion of Frederick Bates, but it is not known when he started collecting, nor when he was born. He was probably one of the ‘brothers Plant’ mentioned as present at Henry Bates’s farewell party at Bradgate Park in 1848, and it is tempting to speculate that he could have been the ‘young entomologist’ who provided Kirby with records of Donacia from Misterton in 1845 although there is no direct evidence for this. He was obviously a highly gifted collector and succeeded in adding Tropideres sepicola to the British list. Only 30 his records have been passed down to us but it is clear that he had a knack of finding cryptic species... He also tended to be more wide-ranging in his collecting localities... Perhaps his greatest contribution to knowledge was the discovery of Buddon Wood as a site of outstanding entomological interest...’ Plant died of smallpox within five years of sailing to Madagascar, no doubt inspired by Bates and his brother Nathaniel who had followed Bates to Brazil in the 1850s. A letter he wrote to Samuel Stevens after arrival was published by Stevens in Zool., 21, 1863, p.8398. Plant published 'Captures of Coleoptera in Leicestershire' in Zool., 15, 1857, pp. 5544-5545. Of his collection Lott quotes from Frederick Bates’ paper on ‘Midland Entomology’ in Midland Naturalist, 2 :‘the neat and handsome little collection of Mr Plant was offered at a cheap rate to our Museum, but was not taken; the committee I suppose not being able to discern any value in ‘beetles’, even though they were a part of our local fauna, the obtaining of which ought to be one of the prime considerations in the formation and management of a local museum.’ The whereabouts of the collection are now unknown. (MD 9/04) | |
| PLANT, John | October 1819 – January 1894 | Brother of Francis Plant (see above). Lott (2009) p.10 records that he was a collector in Leicestershire in the period 1844-48. Published ‘On the comparative numbers of Coleoptera affecting Meadow Lands’ in Zool. 2, 1844, p.475, and ‘A beetle of Good Omen from Yucatan’ in Proc. Lit. Phil. Soc. Manchester, 15, 1876, pp.180-181. (MD 9/04) | |
| POCKLINGTON, Henry | Published three articles on the colours of Coleoptera elytra between 1873 and 1882 in Pharm, Journ. London and Journ. Micr. Nat Sci. (MD 9/04) | ||
| POLLARD, Alfred | There are beetles bearing this name in the Dyson Perrins collection at Birmingham Museum. A reference in Perrins’ card catalogue refers to Pollard being in the British Museum. (MD 9/04) | ||
| POOL, C.J.C. | Mentioned in Gimingham (1955) as a collector in the Cheshunt area of Hertfordshire in the period around 1907. Poole’s collection was purchased by the HDO for £12 in June 1912. 30 water beetles collected between 1908-1911 in the Portsmouth area are in the collection of Coleoptera from St. Andrews College acquired by Glasgow Museum in 1985. (I am grateful to Geoff Hancock for this information). (MD 9/04) | ||
| POROCHIN, Baron Alexis de | 1918 – 1980 | Finnish by birth but included here because he lived in Stockport for much of his later life when he was head of the Entomology Department at Flatters and Garnett’s laboratory at Fallowfield, Manchester (working with Peter Skidmore, Brian Cooke and Mary Black) and an active member of the Manchester Entomological Society. Skidmore, who was to become a close friend, writing of ‘Some Entomological Recollections of Baron Alexis de Porochin (1918-1980)’ in The Coleopterist, 12, 2003, pp. 21-22, described him ‘a small but flamboyant individual [with] an extremely kind and helpful manner...His knowledge of the ecological requirements of many beetles was considerable...Alec was for instance the only person I have known who had regularly taken Lamia textor.’ This skill as a field worker Skidmore put down to his long association with the Finnish Entomological Society and the fact that many rarities in Britain are common in Finland. One such was Bromius obscurus (L.) which Skidmore described de Porochin finding (and losing!)when they were out on one of the joint collecting trips which they made over a period of 11 years. Johnson (2004) records that 291 beetles collected by de Porochin were accessioned with Stanley Bowestead’s collection. by Manchester Museum in 1990. There is a longer account of de Porochin by Skidmore, which I have not seen, in Underwood, R. (1996) pp.104-107 including a portrait. (MD 11/09) | |
| PORTER, David Alfred | 24 October 1940 - 21 July 2003 |
In an obituary in BJENH.,18, 2005, 55-56, Peter Hodge noted that Porter was born in Bridport, Dorset and his education included the local Grammar School there. He moved to Saffron Walden, Essex, in 1959 where he taught several subjects including biology, before taking a teachers training course in Westminster and moving to Stevenage where he taught biology at Barnwell School. Here he set up the school's popular Natural History Society and arranged the basement of his house to hold its collections including insects. Later he took an external London degree in Botany and Zoology, before marrying and moving to Hailsham, E. Sussex, where he was Head of Department until his retirement in 1993. Although he studied several insect orders, Coleoptera was always his favourite group. He collected in various parts of Britain but the coastal cliffs near his birthplace in Dorset were his favourite hunting grounds. planned update of Dorset list did not materialise. His finds there and in Sussex included the fourth British record of Platycis cosnardi (Chevrolat); Annomatus deikei Reitter, and Gronops inaequalis Boheman and Raymondionymyx marqueti Aube, both from subterranean pitfall traps. He was also the discoverer of the first British male of Bruchidius various (Olivier). In a note to the writer Hodge noted that although Porter's interest in Coleoptera first emerged in c.1966, he did not start serious collecting until 1976 under Hodge's tutelage. His immaculately mounted collection which also included other orders was donated to the Booth Museum of Natural History at Brighton'. Hodge wrote another shorter obituary in Col., 13(1), 2004, 40, and placed a MS fuller version of both obituaries in the BENHS library. The BJENH obituary includes a photograph and full references to his publications. (MD 9/04, 1/22) |
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| PORTER, Endymion | Published ‘Coleoptera of Upper Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh’ in IN., 7, 11898, pp.48-49. (MD 9/04) | ||
| POTTER, William | ?1880-1964 | Johnson (2004) notices that he lived in Droylesden near Manchester and collected mostly in that area and neighbouring areas of Cheshire and Derbyshire, north Wales and the Builth area. His collection is in Manchester Museum and includes 15,000 specimens, many of which were published by H.Britten in his role as Lancashire and Cheshire recorder. (When I saw the collection in 1979 it was housed in 44 miscellaneous boxes, including Wills cigarette boxes, in round glass- topped pill boxes. Many of the specimens appeared to have little information with them.) There are also Potter specimens in the Glasgow Museum (as part of an exchange with Manchester in 1976). (MD 9/04) | |
| POWELL, W |
He is listed by James,T.J. (2018) as providing a special contribution either in the form of a comprehensive site list or a substantial number of records (MD 1/22) |