Biographical dictionary
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| Name | Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WEST, William | 1836-1920 | West was one of the founder members of the South London Entomological Society in 1872, and became curator of their collection in 1879, retaining the role until his death in 1920. His interests included both Hemiptera and Coleoptera the last dating from at least the mid 1860s. Many of his more interesting captures are discussed by Peter Chandler in a comprehsive account of West in Br.J.Ent.Nat.Hist, 34, 202, 31-68 which includes two portrait photographs and a bibliography. Chandler records that 'the bulk of West's collection of Coleoptera is in the Colchester Museum and is accompanied by two diaries including numbered lists of specimens respectively from 1-4,180 (entitled The Cabinet of Coleoptera numbered) and 4,181-10,000 (The collection of Coleoptera in cabinet numbered part 2) of which 920 numbers, mainly in the later pages, have no entry against them. These numbers correspond to a number on the card on which the specimen is mounted. It is apparent from the collection that the number applied to all specimens of a species found at the same time. The listing is not systematic, nor is it completely chronological, with mixed years often on the same page. Later years are mainly found in the higher numbers, but the majority of the early entries have no dates associated. Two further diaries, similarly numbered and with mostly corresponding lists are held in the Liverpool Museum. Covering the period 1903-1909 these are entitled W.West Ent. Diary (Coleoptera) and respectively comprise listings of nos 56232-7419 and 7420-9340 including a note that 600 numbers (6287-6886) had not been used.' He also gives more information about the diaries contents in regard to the places visited and the evidence they provide of contacts with other Coleopterists including most of the better known collectors of the period many of whom donated to his collection. In identifying species he had help from Harry Britten, William Fowler and Norman Joy. Chandler also includes Photographs of pages from the diaries and of mounted specimens from his collection. Not to be confused with William West (1847-1917), the Lepidopterist who was also much involved with the South London becoming President in 1884. (MD 12/06, 3/21) |
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| WEST, W. | This name appears on Hydradephaga in the general collection at Manchester and Hancock and Pettit (1981) record that specimens from him are also in the Kidson Taylor collection. (MD 12/04) | ||
| WELLER, Jeremy David | 1932-7 July 1965 | Proc.RESL, 30, 1965-66 (C) p.64 mentions that his interests lay in the ecology of Diptera and Coleoptera. FRES 1956-65 (MD 12/06) | |
| WELD-DOWNING, A.K. | A Captain in the army who was stationed in India. Arrow (1917) mentions that he ‘collected for me in different parts of India’ and Fowler (1912) that he collected Cicindelidae near Madras. He is also known to have collected in Burma. Weld-Downing gave 502 beetles from India to the NHM in 1923 (1923.324) and Arrow (1917) refers to Rutelinae in Mr Andrewes collection. (MD 12/06) | ||
| WEIR, J.W. | A Doctor who lived in Glasgow. 13 Coleoptera he collected in the Cape of Good Hope were acquired by Glasgow Museum in 1877 (1877-29). (MD 12/04) | ||
| WEILDT, J. | A German by birth but included here because he lived in Leicestershire. Lott (2009) p.12 records that his name is given by Frank Bouskell in 1907 as the captor of Aromia moschata ‘in quantities near Loughborough by putting down fresh dough’, and he surmises that this is the ‘man called Wilt, a German, who lived at Loughborough’ who Harry Holyoak wrote of as ‘a first rate entomologist, having very comprehensive collections of both Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. I often to use to visit him and found him a most interesting acquaintance, as he had done a good deal of collecting in various parts of the world, and also found time to take part in the Franco-German war’. (MD 11/09) | ||
| WEAVER, R. | Many mentions in Stephens (1828) including a reference (p.62) to Dale and Curtis collecting with Weaver in Cumberland. R.Kauffmann mentioned to me that Weaver had written on Lamia but I have not been able to track this down. I presume that it is the same R.Weaver who published on the New Forest Cicada in Mag. Nat. Hist., 5, 1832, pp.668-69. (MD 12/06) | ||
| WEALE, J.P.M. | Sold insects of all orders from Caffraria to the HDO for £4 in March 1878 (Smith (1986) p.159). (MD 12/04) | ||
| WATTS, Walter J. | d.1965 | Worked at Billingsgate Fish Market and lived at 42 Bramerton Road, Beckenham. Ernest Lewis, who was his friend, tells me that he was a Freeman of the Fishmongers Company and worked at the market from 4am to noon which left him time for beetling in the afternoons. Keith Lewis has told me that his initial interest was Lepidoptera but he became interested in beetles in the late 1920s and that he was very friendly with William Hunt with whom he collected in Devon and Dorset while on holiday. Keith Lewis published a letter from Donisthorpe found in a copy of Fowler that had belonged to Watts in Bull.AES., December 2000. Watts’ collection was sold to Southend Museum for £100 . He had intended to leave it to Ernest Lewis but fell on hard times. Member of the SLENHS from 1928. (MD 12/04) | |
| WATT, James Cromar | A collection of Coleoptera made by Watt was acquired by Aberdeen University in 1920-21. It is accompanied by ms notes. (MD 12/04) |