He is recorded in Ent.mon.Mag., 64, 1928, 17, as 'well known to British Coleopterists as an energetic and successful collector as well as a generous correspondent'. He lived at Norham and later at Purley, and is best known for his work on the Isle of Wight fauna to which he added at least ten new species. He was a member of the SLENHS and exhibited at meetings.

FES 1909-12, and 1921-27. (MD 10/01)

Born in London. Received a 'brief and very meagre' education before being sent to learn shoemaking. Not liking this occupation he became a pupil teacher in the British School in Colchester. He soon left this however to take a situation in the Essex House Idiot Asylum under W. Millard. Millard became his staunch friend and on his advice Blatch became one of the first of the 'Evangelists' sent out into the rural districts by Samuel Morley, M.P.. He was first appointed to the village of Burton Joyce, Nottingham, and then moved to Netherbury, Dorset and subsequently to Gislingham, Suffolk. It was said that the capture of a Peacock butterfly at the latter place was what first stirred him to make a collection of insects.

Within a few years Blatch had turned his attention to the Coleoptera, and although he interested himself at different times in various orders of insects, and land and fresh water shells and all kinds of microscopical objects, beetles always remained his chief concern. On the foundation of the Midland Counties Lunatic Asylum at Knowle, he was appointed Secretary, a post which he held, combined with that of Superintendent, until his death. His contemporaries noted that he was greatly interested in lunacy, a subject which he had studied in detail, and that he did his best to make the lives of the patients at Knowle as happy as possible. Blatch apparently suffered throughout his life from a poor diet in his youth ‘caused by his going without proper food in order that he might buy books for his studies’. Eventually he was reduced to little more than a skeleton and in February 1900 was operated upon, but the cause of his trouble was not discovered and he died seventeen days later.

W.W. Fowler, writing Blatch's obituary in the Ent.mon.Mag., 36, 1900, 89-90, remarked of his interest in beetles: ‘no collector could be keener, and he had an unerring eye for a good locality. His methods were very like those of the late Dr Power, and, like him, when he once found a rare beetle he never rested until he had discovered its habitats and secured a considerable series; in one small mossy bank near Knowle he took no less than four hundred and twelve species, or nearly one eighth of the whole British Coleoptera, and he was instrumental in adding several new species to the British lists, one or two of these being new to science. The writer of the present notice has collected with him on two or three occasions, and has the most pleasant recollections of the time spent in his company. He was especially good at collecting and determining Homalotae and small Staphylinidae, and enriched the Midland list with a large number of records in this obscure group of insects ... He was extremely fond of books, and possessing a most retentive memory, he was able to instruct himself sufficiently in Latin and other languages to understand the scientific books connected with his favourite subject’. Interestingly, the first of Blatch's sixty two published notes and articles on entomology was entitled ‘Entomological books for beginners' (Midland Naturalist, 1, 1878, 100-101).

Blatch was an early member of the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society and Secretary from 1871 to 1873. His name disappears from the list of members in 1878. With R.C. Bradley, Colbran Wainwright and a few others he founded the Birmingham Entomological Society of which he became President in February 1889, a post which he held until 1893. A paper of his in 1876 calling for greater co-operation between natural history societies in the region, led to the foundation of the Midland Union, and he was also one of the leading advocates for a Natural History Museum in Birmingham.

The Centenary History of the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society, published in 1958, notes of Blatch's collection that it was bought after his death ‘by Mr (later Sir) G.H. Kenrick, who handed it over to the Birmingham Entomological Society to be held in trust until such time as a Natural History Museum should be provided in the city. The specimens numbered considerably over a thousand, and nine cabinet drawers were exhibited at a Conversazione. There are different accounts of the ultimate fate of the Blatch collection of Midland Coleoptera. One says that part of the collection went to Willoughby Ellis and eventually to the Birmingham City Museum about 1936, while the other says that the main collection was bought by Willoughby Ellis and broken up and sold after his death. Mr S.E.W. Carlier tells me, however, that he had access to 'Blatch's collection of Midland Beetles' in the Keeper's room of the City Museum as far back as the period 1916-22’.

There is some truth in all of this. Birmingham Museum acquired a 'twelve drawer cabinet' by gift from Sir G.H. Kenrick on 4 July 1912. This collection is now amalgamated with the Carlier collection but Blatch's specimens are distinguished by blue spots. Manchester Museum obtained some 30,000 specimens from R.W. Lloyd in 1958. This collection had formerly belonged to Willoughby Ellis. It is housed in a twenty-eight drawer cabinet which appears to be homemade, and includes the types of Neuraphes planifrons, Blatch; Homalota divisa, v. blatchii Ellis and Rhizophagus oblongocollis Blatch. Also included are various specimens from Power, Champion, Chappell, Sharp and others. The collection is accompanied by related MSS and printed material including: MS Catalogue of Midland Coleoptera (vol 1 only); Notes of various papers on Coleoptera (with inserted) a list of beetle Iocalities; marked up copy of Sharp's 1883 list; and a substantial Catalogue of British Coleoptera with notes on localities, habitats, etc., and bibliographical references. Bolton Museum also has a small collection of Blatch material acquired as part of the P.B. Mason collection;

Adam Parker has informed me that The Yorkshire Museum has a large number of specimens as a result of his friendship with Willoughby Ellis from Knowle and elsewhere in the Midlands, and also numerous specimens in the collection from other collectors especially J.W. Douglas.  Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera are included with the Coleoptera as the main subject. The collection of Herbert Willoughby Ellis also contains a good proportion of Blatch's material. Importantly the museum also has 5 volumes of field notes of Blatch’s coleoptera – listing the entries from numbers 1 to 19086, along with provenance information and his field diary from 1894-1899. Additionaly the museum also have lecture notes from Blatch on prepared talks:

• A list of Coleoptera collected from a small Mossy Bank at Knowle, Warwickshire during part of the year 1889. With an Introduction note on the locality etc. By W G Blatch. Read before the Birmingham Entomological Society on December 2nd   1889.
• Contributions towards the knowledge of Midlands Insects No.1: Coleoptera. Read before the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society on November 21st 1882 by W. G. Blatch.

There are also beetles collected by Blatch in Doncaster Museum (marked as W.E. Blatch).  Sharon Reid at the Central Science Laboratory (DEFRA), York, informs me that there are specimens collected by Blatch in the F. Bates collection there (see BATES, F. and WILLIAMS, B.S.) and Michael Cooper that there are 18 records of Blatch beetles, mainly from Bewdley and Knowle, one dated 1889, on the Nottingham Natural History Museum database.

To the obituaries listed by Gilbert (1977) may be added that by W.W. Fowler in Ent, 1900, 136.(MD 10/01,10/03, 12/06, 12/21)

Subscribed to two copies of Denny (1825). He was FRS and FLS and lived at 30 Montague Place, Russell Square, London. (MD 10/01)

Published nine notes on entomological subjects of which one concerned Coleoptera: ‘Occurrence of Trichius fasciatus near Pontypool' in Zool., 1847, 1676.

FES 1849-1875. (MD 10/01)