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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Name |
Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROBSON, George | Leicestershire naturalist who published records of 40 water beetles in Midland Naturalist, 2, 1879, pp.57-60. ‘Hunting the beetles, under the invigorating influences of fresh air and sunshine’ wrote Robson, ‘was all pleasure.’ Though he found the Haliplids difficult when ‘the real work began when I got home’. In the first issue of the same journal F.T. Mott in an article on Artisan Naturalists (1, 1878, pp. 310-311) described Robson as ‘a Leicester stocking-maker...who has found means for self-cultivation while bringing up a large family on the earnings of his frame. There are probably not a dozen men in Leicester of all classes who know as much about the Natural History of their district as he does...’ (quoted by Lott, 2009 p.13). Robson donated 92 water beetles to the Leicester Museum on 30 June 1877 and a collection of Staphylinidae in May 1879. (MD 11/09) | ||
| ROBINSON, K. |
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) |
||
| ROBINSON, Herbert Christopher | 1874 – 1929 | I assume that this is the Robinson referred to by Fowler (1912) as taking Neocollyris species in Bukit, Besar, Nawngchik and Malaya. There is an obituary in J.fed. Malay St,. Mus., 16, 1930, pp.1-12, including a bibliography, which I have not seen. (MD 11/04) | |
| ROBINSON, Edward W. | 20 January 1835 – 10 August 1877 | Little seems to be known about Robinson who was one of the foremost entomological illustrators of his day and whose steel engravings in Trans. SL; Ent. Ann.; J. Linn Soc., Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., etc. included many beetles. [There are some original Lepidoptera drawings by him in the NHM]. There is an obituary in EMM.,14, 1877, pp.118-119. (MD 11/04) | |
| ROBERTSON, Miss | Gave a collection of Coleoptera to Berwick Museum on 8 September 1882 (Davis and Brewer (1986) p.126). (MD 11/04) | ||
| ROBERTS, W.G.J. | Gave beetles from the Gold Coast to Birmingham Museum on 26 October 1923 and 7 May 1924. He worked at the time for the firm of Russell and Co.. (MD 11/04) | ||
| ROBERTS, M | Published ‘Prionus corarius in Hertfordshire’ in EMM., 95, 1959, p.108. He lived at Newton Abbot in Devon (Information from Trevor James). (MD 11/04) | ||
| ROBERTS, Barry | Lived at Deganwy, Gwynedd. Made a collection of British beetles in 16 storeboxes which in 1982 was housed at the National Trust’s Penrhyn Castle, Bangor. Many of the specimens are unlabelled. (Information from Keith Alexander). (MD 11/04) | ||
| ROBERTS, Arthur William Rymer | 1 December 1879 – 9 April 1955 | Born at Manchester and spent his childhood in Windermere. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge where he read law and became a barrister. His interest in natural history was such, however, that he soon gave this up and returned to Cambridge as a postgraduate student of biology. Subsequently became a farmer at Crook near Kendal with a special interest in economic entomology. During the first World War he moved to Rothamstead where he worked on aphids and elateridae, particularly species of Agriotes and Athous on which he published 5 papers between 1915-1928. Shortly after the War he married Ruth Gimingham and moved to Cambridge where he took up a post at the Molteno Institute for Parasitology. Whilst there he became interested in beetle larvae and in particular those of the Curculionidae on which he published several papers including his ‘Key to the principal families of Coleoptera in the larval stage’ (Bull. Ent. Research, 21, 1930, pp.57-72) and an important paper on Erotylid larvae (Trans.RESL., 88, 1939, pp.89-117) both illustrated by numerous drawings which he prepared himself. F.van Emden, from whose obituary of Roberts in EMM., 91, 1955, p.168 the above is taken, commented that his papers were ‘a model of thoroughness and form important contributions... His ‘Key to the principal families...’ [is] the first comprehensive modern key...’ (MD 11/04) | |
| RIVERS, James John | 6 January 1824 – 16 December 1913 | Well known Californian natural historian who described several species of American Coleoptera, but who was born in Winchester and studied medicine at London University before moving to America in c. 1867. He was sufficiently interested in entomology whilst a student to join the ESL and to attend meetings there, and he subsequently became acquainted with many of the leading British naturalists of his day including T. Huxley, C. Darwin, A. Wallace, T.V.Wollaston, F. Walker and G. Crotch. In America he was particularly well-known as a member of the Arthrozoic Club, which was associated with the California Academy of Sciences, and as Curator of Natural History in the University of California. A list of the insects he described is included in Agassiz (1931) p.747. Rivers’s Coleoptera were sold in Europe, the Cicindelidae through Walther Horn, the Carabidae through H.Roeschke to the Berlin Museum, and the remainder through Kraatz to the Dahlem Entomological Institute. (MD 11/04) |