Biographical dictionary
The Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists was compiled by the late Michael Darby. The Dictionary can be accessed below, and see also the additional information provide by Michael:
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| Name | Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MASON, Philip Brookes | 2 January 1842- 6 November 1903 | Born and died at Burton on Trent where both he and his father were doctors. Educated for this profession at Glasgow and University College, London, where he was awarded several prizes and medals before being appointed Demonstrator in Anatomy, a post which he held for three years.. He was also a house surgeon in the hospital of Mr Erichson and Sir Henry Thompson. Mason’s obituary by W.W.Fowler, who was first inspired to take up the study of beetles by Mason (and W.Garneys), mentions that he started collecting objects of natural history at the age of four (EMM., 40, 1903, pp.17-18 and correction p.40). Although he undertook a collecting trip to Iceland in 1889, Fowler notes that ‘for many years he did comparatively little collecting, but devoted a considerable proportion of his income to acquiring well known British collections; among them were the Coleoptera of Mr E.C.Rye and the Rev. A.Matthews (including the latter’s unique collection of Trichopterygidae), the Lepidoptera of Mr T.Wilkinson, Mr Douglas and Mr J.Sang, the Aculeate Hymenoptera of Mr F.Smith and the Hemiptera of Mr Douglas and Mr Scott. The cabinets in time increased upon him so much that he erected a Museum adjoining his house... he also possessed an almost perfect British Herbarium [and]... his natural history library, too, was as complete as he could make it’. Mason published some thirty articles including a number on Coleoptera the first three being in 1879 and including ‘Coleoptera from Portland’ (EMM. 18, 1879, p.134) and the remainder in the ten years before his death. He also funded the publishing of A.Matthews, Corylophidae and Sphaeriidae, (1899) the MSS of which had remained unpublished at the time of Matthews death, and a Supplement to the same author’s Trichopterygidae (1900). Mason also employed John Sang of Darlington to make coloured drawings of the British Staphylinidae ‘executed with great skill and care’ which were never published [pity!]. Although his Lepidoptera (the finest private collection in the country at the time) was sold at auction, his collection of Coleoptera passed to the Chadwick Museum, Bolton, with the duplicates going to H.W.Ellis (see letter dated 5 July 1932 at Bolton). It includes some 73,000 specimens and is essentially the series by E.C.Rye into which has been incorporated the following collections or parts of collections: Edwin Brown, A.Hewgill, G.C.Dupre, T.Wilkinson, J.Pelerin, J.G.Marsh, George Wailes, B.Cooke, J.W.Douglas, E.Shepherd, G.C.Champion, E.G. Kraatz, A.Matthews, P.H.Harper, R.S.Edleston, G.R.Crotch, J.A.Power, J.Brewer, E.W.Janson, T.V.Wollaston, A.H.Haliday, W.G.Blatch, H.Champion and D.Sharp. Geoff Hancock reported in 1976 that the collection ‘has been well maintained but little work has been done on cataloguing. Possibility of 90 species being represented by types’ (Biology Curators Group Newsletter, 3, 1976). A letter from Janson associated with the collection states ‘Dr Mason’s British collection I should regard as one of the best and perhaps largest that exists and I know he bought either through us or direct...’. There is a note on the collection by H.W.Ellis in Proc.RESL., (A), 17, 1942, pp.62-63. There are also Coleoptera bearing Mason’s name in the general collection at Doncaster and several thousand Hymenoptera and Diptera in NMW . The NHM possesses a typescript letter dated 1899 to C.O.Waterhouse. The sale of his library by Stevens on 17 May, 21 June and 12 July 1904 is mentioned in ERJV, 16, 1904, pp.144-45. To the six obituaries listed by Gilbert (1977) may be added C.F. Thornewill, J.Conch., 11, 1904, pp.104-05. FLS 1872, FES 1874 (Council), and member of several foreign societies. (MD 2/04) | |
| MASSEE, Arthur Morel | 1899 - 14 September 1967 | Elder son of George Massee the eminent Kew mycologist. Educated at East Sheen Grammar School, Surrey, and after leaving worked for Bunyards of Maidstone, the horticulturalists. After serving in the First World War went to Imperial College where he studied under Lefroy. In 1920 he joined the small staff at East Malling Research Station where he was to spend the rest of his working life, finally retiring in 1961. At East Malling he worked on mites and subsequently on pests of fruit trees about which he wrote extensively both scientific and more popular works the best known being his book The Pests of Fruit and Hops (1937). Throughout his life Massee was an enthusiastic collector firstly of Heteroptera, of which he amassed what A.A.Allen described ‘as about the finest, most complete and beautifully-mounted collection of the British species ever made’ (ERJVI., 1967, pp.318-320) and of Coleoptera. Mike Morris has said of him: ‘He did not do much original descriptive or revisional work, but was deeply interested in the habits and life histories of the species he collected... He collected very widely in southern England and the Scottish Highlands, being particularly fond of the New Forest. He was an indefatigable worker in the field, being one of those collectors whose motto is ‘never let up’ (EMM., 103, 1967, pp.215-16). Among his close friends were E.C.Bedwell (Massee was closely involved in the Bedwell collection going to Norwich (see correspondence at Norwich)) and Philip Harwood. Massee’s extensive list of publications includes the addition of many beetles to the Kent list in particular. Among his many important finds there were Emus hirtus, Gnorimus nobilis and Lixus paraplecticus. His collection of Heteroptera was bequeathed to the NHM which also had first choice from his Coleoptera collection before it passed (in 30 storeboxes ‘mounted in impeccable style’) with his extensive library to BENHS. The Coleoptera were subsequently transferred to a 40 drawer cabinet (James (1973) p. 79). There are also specimens bearing his name in the Hudson Beare Collection at RSM, in the RHS’s collection (70 specimens, information from Andy Salisbury) and in the collection of K. Lewis. FRES from 1922, Vice President 1949,1959 Council three times between 1949-1959. Hon. Fellow 1959. Member of BENHS from 1922 and later a tern as President. Committee member of the Nature Conservancy. (MD 2/04) | |
| MASTERS | This name appears on Coleoptera in the Hall collection at Oldham (Information from Simon Hayhow). (MD 2/04) | ||
| MASTERS, George | 1837 –26 June 1912 | Born in Kent and went to Australia in 1856 where he worked for Dr Godfrey Howitt, a keen entomologist. In 1859 he met Sir William Macleay and collected for him in various parts of the country. Appointed Assistant Curator, Australian Museum, Sydney, in 1864 and developed the collections which became the Macleay Museum. Published a Catalogue of the Described Coleoptera of Australia in four parts 1871-72. A MS Index to the catalogue is in the NHM. (All information from Harvey, et al.(1998) p.130.) Gilbert (1977) lists 7 obituary and other notices. (MD 2/04) | |
| MATHEW, Gervase Frederick | 11 February 1842 – 10 February 1928 | Younger brother of Rev. Alexander Murray Mathew, who also published on entomology. Mainly a Lepidopterist but had an early interest in beetles writing ‘Coleoptera in North Devon’ in EWI, 6, 1859, pp.43-44; ‘Doings of a Coleopterist’, ibid., 7, 1859, pp.188-89; Captures of Coleoptera’ ibid., 8, 1860, pp.1116-117, and ‘Habits of Bledius tricornis’, Zoo., 18, 1860, p.7217. (MD) | |
| MATTHEWS, Andrew | 18 June 1815 – 14 September 1897 | Son of the Rev. Andrew Hughes Matthews and brother of Rev. Henry Matthews both ornithologists and entomologists. A second brother, J.B. Matthews, lived in Vancouver. Entered Lincoln College, Oxford in 1833 and, after graduating, was ordained by the Bishop of Oxford to the Curacy of Middleton Stoney in Oxfordshire. Subsequently moved to Gumley in Leicestershire where he remained for 44 years. Married in 1860 the daughter of John Dodd. Published a joint work with his brother on the birds of Oxfordshire in 1849. His early interest in entomology centred on the Lepidoptera, of which he formed a good collection, and he published his first paper at the age of 14 in Mag.Nat.Hist., 2, 1829, pp.66-67. His first paper on Coleoptera, ‘Notice of some new genera and species of Brachelytra’ appeared in the same journal nine years later (5, 1838, pp.188-98). It was to be the beetles upon which he decided to concentrate and in particular the Ptiliidae then little studied because of their minute size. His first publication on this family ‘A synonymic list of the British Trichopterygidae’ appeared in Zool., 16, 1858, pp.7063-7068, and was subsequently followed by 28 others covering the world fauna, many illustrated with his own careful drawings of his own dissections. In 1872 he published a monograph Trichopterygia Illustrata which dealt with the world fauna, and after his death P.B.Mason, who had acquired much of his collection, published at his own expense a Supplement (1904), the manuscript of which Matthews had completed but not submitted for publication.. Matthews also had some interest in other groups writing on Myllaena, Amblopinus, Leistotrophus, and, later in life, the Corylophidae on which Mason arranged the publication of a companion volume to the Trichopterygia Illustrata titled Corylophidae and Sphaeriidae in 1899 again based on Matthews’ unpublished manuscripts which he edited. Many of these publications described new species to the British list. Many of his collecting trips were undertaken with his brother Henry who found many of his important specimens (see Matthews, Henry) Matthews’ collection, including the types of his Ptiliidae and Myllaena, together with specimens collected by his father, were acquired by Bolton as part of the P.B.Mason collection, after Mason had passed the foreign types described in Trichopterygidae Illustrata to the NHM. There is also a collection of named British Ptiliidae in the HDO acquired in 1886, and Matthews’ specimens are to be found in the general collection at Doncaster Museum and in the H. Willoughby Ellis collection at York Museum (Information from Mike Denton) . Some British Coleoptera (and Lepidoptera) were sold by Stevens on 14 December 1897 and the same auctioneer sold his birds on 16 July 1901 (Chalmers-Hunt (1976) pp.134,137). There is a letter from Matthews to Westwood of 1886 in the HDO, and he is mentioned in the Janson diary at Cambridge eg. 1 July 1869, 4 July 1870. His original drawings for the Trichopterygidae Illustrata were in the possession of Charles Mackechnie-Jarvis. There are obituaries, in EMM., 33, 1897, pp.258-60 (by W.W.Fowler, who was a friend of Matthews); Ent News, 8, 1897, p.256; Ent., 30, 1897, p.276; and Trans.ESL., l897, p.lxxiii (by R.Trimen). (MD 2/04) | |
| MATTHEWS, Andrew Hughes | A Reverend and father of the Reverends Andrew and Henry, and J.B. Matthews. Because all the Matthews collected beetles and one son had the same name and title as the father there has been some confusion about who did what (eg. Hagen, 1862). Unfortunately very little seems to be known about Andrew Hughes, a contemporary of Stephens who was clearly a very competent Coleopterist and lived at Weston on the Green, Oxfordshire. He published ‘On Zerucera aesculi’ in Mag. Nat. Hist. 1 (2), 1829, pp.66-67, and ‘Notice of some new Genera and Species of Brachelytra’ in Ent. Mag., 5, 1838, pp.188-98. This last including Myllaena brevicornis, M. elongata, and M. gracilis which still remain in our list. (MD 11/09) | ||
| MATTHEWS, Henry | d. 1874 -77 | Brother of Andrew (see above) and like him was also ordained. Clearly an enthusiastic Coleopterist but virtually all we know about him is contained in a note ‘Leistotrophus cingulatus in Devonshire; with obituary notice of the Rev. H.Matthews’ (EMM., 14, 1887, pp.38-39). ‘As a collector but few have ever been more successful, he seemed intuitively to recognise any strange form instantly on its appearance, and many of the best species recorded by myself in the pages of the EMM and other publications have been the result of his labours. Assisted by another brother (Mr J.B.Matthews), in Vancouver’s Island he amassed a vast number of rare Coleoptera, including Zacotus Matthewsi, Amphizoa Lecontei, Amphizoa Josephi, and many others new to science. Of these collections which he brought with him on his return... in 1869, and of my brother’s work, Dr Le Conte in the Ann.Mag.Nat.Hist, Dec. 1867, speaks in terms of the highest praise. ‘They have’, he says, ‘with great zeal explored the wilderness of British Columbia and Vancouver’s Island, and, in fact, have obtained the best material yet procured for a study of the distribution of species in those regions which remain, in a scientific sense, the most unexplored portions of North America’. The difficulties with which an entomologist has to contend in those regions will be more clearly understood by the fact, that several expert collectors, including the late G.R.Crotch, have since failed in the attempt to emulate my brother’s work’. On his return to England he contracted an illness whilst collecting in the neighbourhood of Ilfracombe and Westward Ho, Devon, from which he eventually died. Trichopteryx henrici was named after him by his brother Andrew. (MD 2/04,11/09) | |
| MAXWELL, Katherine | Foreign beetles principally from South Africa and Nigeria collected by Miss Katherine Maxwell and others were acquired by Glasgow Museum in 1985.(information from Geoff Hancock). (MD 2/04) | ||
| MAY, A.H. | There is a collection of 21,000 specimens in the RSM (accession no. 1962-24) collected from about 1916-1938. Incorporated into the collection is that of H.Heasler whose specimens were nearly all remounted and re-labelled by May but bear initials HH. Most of these date from up to 1903. Also includes specimens from other collectors including E.A.Newbery, P.H.Harwood, H. Donisthorpe, and A.Ferguson.. The origin of other specimens labelled ‘Old Coll’ and ‘D’s Box’ is obscure. The collection was given by Frank Balfour Browne who had previously acquired it as an anonymous Glasgow collection, and in keeping it for himself said that he considered it of not sufficient quality for an institutional collection and used it to make slides, dissections, etc. Its identity was established by Pelham Clinton who noted that Kevan considered it rather important and that it included several things new to the British /Scottish (?) list The only references to May seem to be those by J.J.Walker: ‘Sheppey records of A.H.May’ in Trans.ESL, 7(2), 1932, p.123 and by A.Fergusson: ‘Clyde records of A.H.May’, in Scot Nat., 1922, pp.155-164. (MD 2/04) |