Biographical dictionary
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Name |
Dates | Biography | |
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| BIRD, Maurice Charles Hilton | 28 March 1857-18 October 1924 |
Eldest son of Captain H.H. Bird of Little Waltham Hall, Essex and his wife Eliza Sophia (nee Master). Although Bird inherited his father’s large estate in Essex, he preferred to live in Norfolk where his father had bought Burnely Hall, West Somerton and hired Kelling Hall. Bird was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and in 1887 married Kate Bonner, daughter of Henry Calthorpe Bonner of the Manor House, East Rudham. They had two sons and two daughters. After a time as a master at Weymouth College, Bird took holy orders, and in 1887 accepted the curacy of Brunstead, where he remained for the rest of his life. Bird took a very active role in rural affairs and his obituary in Transactions Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society, XI, 1924, 609 notes that he had many of the characteristics of Gilbert White. His work on beetles included the publication of a note on Barynotus moerens Fab. in Ent.mon.Mag, 27, 1891, 222-23 (with the help of W.W. Fowler) and the preparation of a list of Norfolk records. Martin Collier informs me however, that this list which is contained in a notebook in the Castle Museum, Norwich, is identical with records quoted by James Edwards when compiling his Norfolk list (Transactions Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society, 1895) as belonging to the Rev. Theodore Wood. Bird was a member of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist’s Society from 1882 and the British Ornithologists Union from 1892 (President 1908-09). (MD 10/01) |
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| BIRD, Charles Smith | 1795-1862 |
A Reverend. Recorded to have been one of the first members of the Entomological Society to give insects. Published three articles on insects, of which one 'Capture of insects at Burchfield', Ent.Mag., 2, 1835, 39-43, included a list of twenty six beetles ‘not quite common’ from the neighbourhood. At the time he states that he had lived at Burghfield Hill House, Burghfield, nr. Reading 'for about ten years' and that he had 'employed my leisure hours in making an entomological collection. Darren Mann tells me that 'his collection is in Oxford, still in its original cabinet/layout, little or no data. As far as I know there is no associated archive'. FES 1833-41. FLS. (MD 10/01, 2/20) |
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| BIRCHALL, Edwin | 1819-2 May 1884 |
Best known as a Lepidopterist. His father was an important businessman in Leeds and he was educated there and at the Friends School, York, where his fellow students included Benjamin and Nicholas Cooke, and several others who were to become well-known naturalists. He became a partner in his father's firm and then joined Pickfords as their agent firstly in Dublin, and later in Liverpool. Subsequently he started in business on his own account in Bradford , but soon gave up and moved via Leeds to the Isle of Man where he settled. Birchall sustained injuries in a fall from a cliff while pursuing his entomological activities from which he never properly recovered, and he died at Douglas, Isle of Man, after being nursed by his daughter for several years. The writer of his obituary in Ent.mon.Mag., 21, 1884, 27 states that he was ‘a born naturalist, an enthusiastic collector, and an extremely genial and buoyant disposition; at the same time he was a strong partisan, and enjoyed a controversy in print, especially on theological matters.' Birchall's entry in the Ent Ann., for 1857 and 1860 records his interests as 'British insects of all orders', which certainly included beetles. Johnson & Halbert (1902) make various references to his captures, and in 1876 he published a note on 'Coleoptera in the Isle of Man' in Ent.mon.Mag., 13, 65. His British collections of Lepidoptera were sold by Stevens on 19 July, 1881. Apart from the obituary mentioned above there are obituaries in Proc.Ent.Soc.Lond. XLIII, (by J.W.Dunning); Leopoldina, 20, 1884, 15; Zool.Anz., 7, 1884, 352; and Psyche (Cambridge, Mass., USA) 4, 1884, 191.. . (MD 10/01) |
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| BIRCH, W. |
Simms (1968) mentions material from W. Birch in the W.C. Hey collection at York (MD 12/21) |
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| BIRCH, Timothy John | b. 30 December 1960 |
Born in Kendal, Cumbria and educated at Sheffield University where he completed his studies in June 1983. Has published 'Insects in Skye', Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists Society, 1980; 'Some less common beetles taken in south Lakeland, Bird Report, Cumbria Natural History Socity publication, 1981; 'Leistus rfomarginatus (Dufts.) from the South Yorkshire Pennines', Ent,mon.Mag., 118, 1982, 68; and 'Cymindis vaporariorum (L) from a coastal bog in Cumbria', ibid, 119, 1983, 150. His vacation work has included spells at the Freshwater Biological Association (1980); ITE (1981); Imperial College Cheviot Expedition (1981); and in the Sheffield City and British Museums. In the last he worked for six weeks sorting and rearranging the world beetle larvae collection. FRES and member of the AES and BBC. Between 1981-2 he was Chairman of the Sheffield Conservation Corps. (Information from TJB 1983) (MD 8/17)
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| BIRCH, F. | Some time Honorary Secretary of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society and wrote reports to the journals of the Society’s meetings. Some of these record that he showed Coleoptera. He is listed in the Naturalists Directory, 1904-5 at 23 Orford Street, Wavertree, Liverpool, and gives his interests as Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. Presumably this is the Fred Birch whose name appears on specimens in Doncaster Museum’s general collection. (MD 10/01) | ||
| BINNS, E.S. |
Published 'Adults of Longitarsus jacobaeae (L) defoliating ragwort' in Ent.mon.Mag., 111, 1975, 129, at which time he worked in the Entomology Department of the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, Littlehampton, Sussex. Also published on Diptera and Lepidoptera. (MD 8/17) |
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| BINGHAM, S. |
Published a single note in Ent.Weekly Int., 6, 5, ‘Biphyllus lunatus - This has reappeared in its old haunt, and I should have much pleasure in sending living specimens to any entomologist forwarding me a stamped envelope. I do not collect Coleoptera, therefore require no return.' He gives his address as Newnham, Gloucestershire. (MD 10/01) |
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| BINGHAM, Charles Thomas | 16 April 1848 - 18 October 1908 |
Well known Hymenopterist who was an editor of the FBI series. He was attached to the Bengal Staff Corps as a Lt. Colonel, and held the post of Conservator of Forests in Burma until 1894. While in Burma he did collect some Coleoptera as Fowler, (1912) records. After leaving Burma he settled in Kensington, London and was a 'familiar figure in the Insect Room of the Natural History Museum' where he worked primarily on Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera.. Gilbert (1977) lists various obituaries. A note in Ent.mon.Mag., 45, 1909, 36, by W.F. Kirby points out that their obituary contained an error: Bingham was not born in Ireland, but in India of an old Irish family, and educated in Ireland. FZS 1895-1908; FRES 1895-1908, Council 1903-1906. (MD 10/01) |
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| BILLUPS, Thomas Richard | 1841-10 December |
Published his first article on 'Carabus auratus L. in the Borough Market, London’ in Ent.mon.Mag., 16, 1879, 51, but the majority of the one hundred or so entomological notes which followed this were on Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera. He lived at 20 Swiss Villas, Copleston Road, Peckham. There are obituaries in Ent., 53, 1920, 72 and Ent.mon.Mag., 56, 1920, 66. FESL 1879-1902, Council 1884-1886. (MD 10/01) |