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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MILTON, F. | d.1921 | Duff (1993) p.4 describes Milton as spending ‘most of his life as a church-worker in East London. He was a general entomologist who travelled quite widely in the Home Counties and also received specimens from Wellington, Somerset, to where he later moved, probably on his retirement. For some years he was an honorary member of the entomological section of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and left his collection to Taunton Museum. This contains specimens collected in or near Castle Cary and Wellington supposedly between 1908 and 1915 (some are certainly older than that), but at least the Castle Cary material may consist of duplicates received from MacMillan. A number of Milton’s records purporting to be from ‘Castle Cary’ are of coastal species...’ Milton’s name appears on Coleoptera in the Hall collection at Oldham (information from Simon Hayhow). There is a brief obituary in Proc. Som. Arch. Nat. Hist. Soc., 67, 1922, pp.lvii-lviii. (MD 2/04) | |
| MITCHELL, Graham | Employed by the Comission for Overseas Pest Research in the 1970s when he was based in the Caribbean, but he seems otherwise to have been associated with North Wales and Anglesey. Max Barclay (BBI website 17.9.2006) noted that a collection of beetles made by Mitchell was acquired by the NHM in 1998, and that it was composed of about 50% British and 50% foreign, mainly Caribbean. ‘The collection is listed as having been presented by 'P. Mitchell' so I suspect the collector may be dead. It was presented to the Hymenoptera Section, but beetles filtered through to me some time later. Identification of this collection is now complete and it contains some new county records (UK) and an impressive undescribed species from among the tropical stuff.’ (MD 11/09) | ||
| MITFORD, R.S. | There is a 40 drawer cabinet of British Coleoptera in Hastings Museum presented by Mitford in 1927. (MD 2/04) | ||
| MOFFET, Thomas | 1553 – 5 June 1604 | Also spelt Moufet, Mouffett, and Muffet. Second son of a haberdasher of Scottish descent. Educated at Merchant Taylors School, and at Cambridge University and Basle where he studied medicine obtaining a doctorate at the latter in 1578. Travelled widely in Europe before returning to England towards the end of 1580. Lived at first in Ipswich before moving to London and finally to Bulbridge near Salisbury where he was given a home as a pensioner by the Count and Countess of Pembroke. It was through the influence of the Earl that he obtained a seat in parliament as the member for Wilton, where he is buried. Moffet published various books and pamphlets but is included here because his Insectorum Theatrum, the first edition of which was published in 1634, contains the first account in English of beetles (he refers to earlier continental authorities) amounting to some 90 pages out of 326. The work was originally planned by Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) as the 6th volume of his Historia Animalium and it is likely that much of Moffet’s information came from an earlier unpublished MS compiled by Thomas Penny (1532-1588). The volume and its various re-issues and second edition (1658) are discussed by Lisney (1980), pp.4-9. Moffet also published a work on Silkwormes and their Flies . (MD 2/04) | |
| MONCREAFF, H. | This name appears in the Gorham diary in Birmingham Museum and in the Janson diary at Cambridge Museum eg. August 1869, October 1871. Perhaps this is the same Moncrieff whose name appears on Coleoptera in the Hall collection at Oldham (information from Simon Hayhow). (MD 2/04) | ||
| MONCRIEFF (MONCREAFF), Henry | [Andrew entry is re-written]Portsmouth Coleopterist whose name appears on a ms (28pp) belonging to Darren Mann listing his collection.(I am grateful to Darren for providing me with a copy) Drawer numbers (up to 14), species names and numbers of specimens are given, and many rarities are included. It appears to be particularly rich in the smaller species. The name Moncrieff also appears on Coleoptera in the Hall collection at Oldham (Information from Simon Hayhow). Presumably this is the same Moncreaff who is named in the Gorham diary at Birmingham Museum and in the Janson diary at Cambridge Museum eg. August 1869, October 1871. (MD 2/04,11/09) | ||
| MONTAGUE, H. | Published ‘A day’s beetle collecting on Schehallion’, Zool. 21, 1863, p.8412. (MD 2/04) | ||
| MOORE | A Doctor. A small collection of beetles made by Moore between 1830-1865 is in Leeds City Museum. (Fenscore). (MD 2/04) | ||
| MOORE, D. | Lott (2009) notes that Moore gave some Leicestershire beetles, and many more from Hastings, to Frederick Bates in 1849 ‘and it is possible he was a Sussex Coleopterist who visited...’ (MD 11/09) | ||
| MOORE, Frederick | 13 May 1830 – 10 May 1907 | Known as ‘the father of Indian Lepidopterists’. FBI series on beetles indicates that he occasionally collected them too. Gilbert (1966) lists eleven obituary and other notices. (MD 2/04) |