Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1857, at 20 Lower Mosley Street, Manchester with interests in British Lepidoptera and British and foreign Coleoptera. Sharpe (1908),12, lists Carter among 'those early students of the Coleoptera' who left no records of their labours and who 'owed the only education they possessed to that training which Nature herself afforded'. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) records that Carter's world Lepidoptera and Coleoptera collections were sold by Stevens on 15 November 1867. (MD 1/O2)

Born at Bradley, near Huddersfield. Moved to Bradford in 1875 where he spent the rest of his life. Shortly after taking up residence there he was instrumental in setting up the Bradford Naturalists' Society with John Firth and one or two other friends. Carter was the leading spirit in the Society until his death serving at different times as Secretary and President. He was also a very active member of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, and was at one time President of the entomological section.

George Porritt who wrote Carter’s obituary in EMM, 57, 1921, 67-68, records that his initial interest in entomology was with Lepidoptera; his first publication however, was 'Carabus nitens on Greetland and Rombalds Moors', in the Naturalist (N.S.) 3, 1877-78, 41. A series of notes on other orders mainly Lepidoptera followed until 1897 when he wrote on ‘Carabus arvensis near Bradford’ in the same periodical. This is probably the ‘later’ period of interest in Coleoptera to which Porritt refers noting that Carter did some of his best work in this order. Like his earlier notes, Carter's later publications were mainly on ground beetles, although he did contribute general pieces on Coleoptera and Lepidoptera in the Bradford area in eg. Bradford Science Journal, 2, 1910, 347-348. There are various records of Carter's captures in the VCH of Yorkshire. These include Hymenoptera, Neuroptera and Orthoptera in which he also took an interest. Further information appears in the natural History column he wrote in the Bradford Weekly Telegraph for twenty years.

Apart from the obituary already mentioned there is another in Ent. News, 32, 1921,192. FRES from 1900. (MD 1/O2)

Educated at St John’s School, Leatherhead, Surrey and University of Kent where he read
biochemistry. From 1973 to 1977 Carter worked as a clinical biochemist at St George’s Hospital,
Tooting. From 1977 to 1990 he worked as a biology teacher, first at Wycliffe College, Stonehouse,
Gloucestershire, later at Cranleigh School, Cranleigh, Surrey, and finally at Cheltenham College,
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. From 1990 until his death in 2003 Carter was head of Information
Technology at Cheltenham College.

Beetles collected by Carter date from May 1978 until August 1988, and it seems that he
gave up entomology when he took on more time-consuming posts later in his professional career.
Carter was a protégé of Prof. John A. Owen and they made numerous collecting trips together. He
was credited as having helped to collect squirrels’ dreys in Scotland for Owen in Ent Rec, 98, 1986,
219-222.

Carter published very little. He exhibited some rare and interesting beetles new to
Gloucestershire at the BENHS Annual Exhibition on 2 November 1985, including Manda
mandibularis at Hasfield Ham, West Gloucestershire, 30.vi.1985 (Proc Trans Br Ent Nat Hist Soc, 19,
1986, 50). Carter was also a co-author with J.A. Owen et al. of a paper describing Panspaeus
guttatus new to Britain (EMM, 121, 1985, 91-95). Carter and Owen privately published A
Numerical List of British Beetles in 1987 (2nd edition).

Carter became the county recorder for Coleoptera with the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society
following the departure of David Atty for retirement in Cumbria around 1987. He continued in this role
for about ten years until work pressures made it impossible to continue, when Keith Alexander took
over. He was an active member of the Gloucestershire Invertebrate Group.

Carter was introduced to Andrew Duff via a mutual friend, the late Tom Cairns, soon after Duff started
to study beetles in 1983, and Carter quickly became Duff’s first mentor. After his death Carter’s
collection of 2268 intact specimens, plus an unknown number of specimens already damaged by
Anthrenus, was purchased from his widow by Duff and has now been amalgamated with the latter’s
collection of British Coleoptera.

Carter was listed as a subscriber to The Coleopterist’s Newsletter in October 1985, with his address
given as 165 Leckhampton Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 0AD.
(A.G. Duff and K.N.A. Alexander with information from Barbara Carter, 01/2020)

Formed a collection of 1,916 Coleoptera which were given by J.E. Collin to the RSM in 1925 (accession number 1925.103). Carter lived at Hillgarth, Currie, Scotland. (MD 1/O2)