Biographical dictionary

The Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists is compiled and maintained by Michael Darby. The Dictionary can be accessed below, and see also the additional information provide by Michael:

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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Namesort ascending Dates Biography
TEMPLETON, R. ‘Insects, especially Coleoptera’ from India, Ceylon and Java passed to the HDO via Westwood from Templeton in 1857. (Smith (1986) p.153). Corresponding Member ESL 1839-44. (MD 12/04)
TEMPLER, John Published ‘Some observations concerning glowworms’ in Philos.Trans.RSL 6, 1671, pp.2177, 3035-36. (MD 12/04)
TELFER, Mark G.

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)

TEGETMEIER, W.B. ‘Tegetmire’ is mentioned in the Janson diary at Cambridge eg. October 1869, and I presume this is W.B.Tegetmeier who was at one time Secretary of the Apiarian Society. FESL 1859-65. (MD 12/04)
TEBBS, H.Virtue See Virtue-Tebbs
TAYLOR, Stephen Oliver 1870 – September 1953 An organ builder and restorer who lived in Leicester and started collecting beetles in 1903. He was friendly with W.H.Barrow (see above) for many years and was responsible for first inspiring a number of young coleopterists including Donald Tozer and Claude Henderson. He published a note on the discovery of Cis bilamellatus at Sherwood in EMM, 74, 1938, p.52. On Taylor’s collection Lott (2009) states ‘In the 1950s, the beetle collections at Leicester Museum were rearranged into one integrated collection. The four main constituent collections at the time were given coloured labels in order to distinquish them. These coloured labels are now fading to the point where they are indistinquishable. One of the enduring mysteries to successive curators has been the origin of the collection given blue labels in the reorganisation (Acc. No. Z20.1954). This collection was acquired in 23 store boxes, on 31 December 1953 from S.A.Taylor, after the death of his father, S.O.Taylor, in the previous September. S.A.Taylor died in a car crash just eight days later and his father’s collection was acquired in an oak cabinet on 1 April 1954 from S.A.Taylor’s widow. It was originally assumed that the collection in store boxes, later given the blue labels, was that of S.A.Taylor. However S.A.Taylor was primarily a botanist. According to Don Tozer, he never kept his own collection and it is highly likely that he collected beetles only on behalf of his father. I was told by W. Hunt that W.H.Barrow gave his collection to S.O.Taylor. The collection given blue labels is therefore more likely to be the remainder of Barrow’s collection after some material had been incorporated into Taylor’s own collection. A number of clues support this contention. The blue-labelled collection largely lacks locality labels, but the details of the few that do, carry Barrow’s name. The pinning and mounting style is similar to Taylor’s collection, as would be expected considering the close association of Taylor and Barrow right from the start of their collecting careers, Barrow was still alive in August 1945 when he sent Taylor some beetles from Barrowden ‘out of a harvest wagon containing logs’. At this time Barrow would have been nearly 90 years old and if he died soon after, his collection would have passed to Taylor not long before Taylor himself became ill and bed-ridden in 1949. On acquiring someone else’s collection it was normal practice to incorporate desiderata into your own collection and keep the remainder as spares. Some material was incorporated into Taylor’s collection and the fact that the remainder remained intact is probably due, either to Taylor’s subsequent early demise or because he always intended to donate them to the museum, which his son duly did.’ Taylor’s collection also included part of J.H.Woolley’s collection, and his collection notebook is also in the Museum. I have also seen specimens collected by him in the Kauffmann collection of Cerambycidae at Manchester. (MD 12/04, 11/09)
TAYLOR, John Kidson c.1839 – 16 April 1922 Lived in Manchester, later moving to Buxton. He published the first of 21 notes and articles, ‘Coleoptera at Barmouth etc.’, in EMM.,4, 1869, p.210. Later articles included the capture of Cryptocephalus querceti at Sherwood, Otiorrhynchus morio at Lochinver and Meloe brevicollis in Miller’s Dale. There is an obituary by R.Standen in Lancashire and Cheshire Naturalist, 15(1), Aug-Sep.1922, pp.34-36, which I have not seen. His obituary in EMM., 59, 1923, p.21 contains little information except that he was keen on both Conchology and Ornithology as well as beetles. He is mentioned in the Gorham diary at Birmingham. The EMM obituary cited above states that his ‘first collection’ was acquired by J. Sidebotham and his second was bequeathed to the Manchester Museum, and this is confirmed by Johnson (2004) who states that it includes 16,000 specimens. Hancock and Pettit (1981) mention that it was acquired via R.Standen and that it was originally housed in 90 small storeboxes and was ‘distinctively’ mounted with colour codes for localities. A collection of his books is also at Manchester and includes several marked up catalogues of the British fauna as follows: Beare and Donisthorpe (1904), inscribed ‘Record of Coleoptera captured at Sherwood Forest from 1903 by myself’; two further copies inscribed ‘Home List’, and a fourth inscribed ‘Desiderata’ (marked up both with what he had and what he wanted); Sharp and Fowler (1893) showing what he had; and 7 copies of Bennett (1893), one listing Sherwood captures since 1903, and one, previously the property of James H.Keys, titled ‘Desiderata’. A further 5 ms volumes record the names and addresses of Coleopterists who sent species to him with numbers and dates starting from 1 on 12 April 1902. (MD 12/04)
TAYLOR, John d. c.1920 Johnson (2004) records a collection at Manchester of 2,440 specimens collected by Taylor which was accessioned in 1958. It includes Ptiliidae, Staphylinidae, Pselaphidae and Scydmaenidae and incorporates material from R.W.Lloyd. There are also Coleoptera bearing this name in the general collection at Birmingham Museum (numbered 2.2.61). There is an obituary of a John Taylor in ERJV., 32, 1920, p.194, but I am not sure if this is the same person. (MD 12/04)
TAYLOR, James Published ‘Carabus nitens [captured in Scotland]’ in Scott. Nat., 3, 1875, p.104. (MD 12/04)
TAYLOR, George William 1851 – 22 August 1912 A reverend who was born in Derby but lived for much of his life in Canada where he worked on the entomology of Vancouver Island. His publications included ‘Notes on seventy six species of Cicindelidae and Carabidae collected near Victoria, Vancouver Island’ (Canad. Ent., 18, 1886, pp. 34-37). FESL 1892-1906. (MD 12/04)

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