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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CONYBEARE, William David | 1787-1857 | A Reverend. Attached to St. Botolphs Church, Bishopsgate, London at the time of his death. Included a piece about fossil Coleoptera in his Outline of the Geology of England and Wales, 1822. (MD 3/02) | |
| COOKE | Chalmers-Hunt,J.M. (1976) mentions that Cooke sold a collection of various natural history specimens including Coleoptera at Bullocks on 12 February 1898. (MD 3/02) | ||
| COOKE, Benjamin | 16 September 1816 -4 February 1883 | Brother of Nicholas Cooke, the Lepidopterist. Lived at various addresses in Manchester, Southport, etc.. Cooke's interests covered Diptera, Neuroptera, Trichoptera and Hymenoptera in particular, and these were the subject of most his twenty or so published notes. He was interested in beetles too, however, and I have seen foreign specimens collected by him in the W.W.Ellis collection in Liverpool Museum. Cooke’s main collection of Coleoptera, Diptera and minor orders was sold by Stevens on 19 June 1883. It appears to have been purchased by Janson who subsequently sold it to P. Mason, from whom it passed to Bolton Museum. A note in the Insect Department Register in the Cambridge University Museum states that E.A.Newbery acquired Cooke's 20 drawer cabinet after Janson had cleared the insects out of it. Gilbert,P. (1977) lists seven obituaries. Sharon Reid of the Central Science Laboratory (DEFRA), York, informs me that there are specimens in the F.Bates collection there labelled ‘ex Cooke’ which is presumably this Cooke. (See BATES, F. and WILLIAMS, B.S.). (MD 3/02, 10/03) | |
| COOKE, Brian Digby | 21 June 1939 – 20 August 1960 | Lived at Marple, Cheshire and died in Malaya while on National Service. Member of the Manchester Entomological Society and collected beetles with Eric Hunter, Colin Johnson and Peter Skidmore (see HUNTER, F.A.). Johnson (2004) and Hancock & Pettit (1981) record that a collection made by Cooke of some 2,000 British beetles is in the Manchester Museum, accessioned in 1961. It is accompanied by manuscript notebooks, identification notes/translated keys, and drawings and paintings of Chrysomelidae. There is an obituary by E.H.Fielding in Manchester Entomological Society Proc. and Trans. 1952-1960 incorporating the 50th – 58th Annual Reports, 1961, pp 3-4 which I have not seen. FRES 1958 – death. (MD 10/03, 12/06, 11/09). | |
| COOKE, Matthew | 16 February 1829 - 25 August 1887 | Born at Bushmills in Northern Ireland. Emigrated to North America in April 1850. In October 1862 took up residence in California where he subsequently became that state's first economic entomologist. His many publications, the most famous of which was Injurious insects of the orchard, vineyard, field, garden, conservatory, household, storehouse, domestic animals, etc. with remedies for their extermination, 1883, include various references to beetles. He died at Sacramento, California. There is an account of Cooke in E.O.Essig, History of Entomology, 1931, pp.581-584. | |
| COOLING, David A. | Published 'Records of aquatic Coleoptera from rivers in southern England' in Ent. Gaz., 32, 1981, pp.103-113. At the time he was attached to the Freshwater Biological Association River Laboratory as a contract biologist and the collections he made were deposited there. Subsequently gave up this work to take up a new career in computing. (Information from D.A.C.) (MD 3/02) | ||
| COOMBS, C.W. | Worked at the Pest Infestation Laboratory at Slough. Published a number of articles on Cryptophagus species with Woodroffe including their comprehensive: 'A revision of the British species of Cryptophagus (Herbst)', in Trans.RESL, 106 (6), 1955, 237-282, which introduced two species new to science, eight species new to the British list, and a further eight species which had previously been widely misidentified. These included additions in earlier articles by both authors eg. 'Two species of Cryptophagus new to Britain', EMM.,., 88, 1952, pp.259-260. In conjunction with Woodroffe, Coombes also published notes on other genera, eg. ‘Salebius tarsalis Casey imported into Britain’, ibid., 90, 1953, p.186; ‘Some factors affecting mortality of eggs and newly emerged larvae of Ptinus tectus Boieldieu’, J. animal. Ecol., 31, 1962, pp.471-480; and ‘Interactions between grain beetles Sitophilus granarius L. and Ptinus tectus Boieldieu’, ibid., 99, 1963, pp.36-38. In conjunction with J.A.Freeman he published ‘The insect fauna of an empty granary’, Bull. ent. Res.,46(2), 1955, 399-417. (MD) | ||
| COOPER, Abraham | 1787-1868 | Born in London the son of a tobacconist and inn keeper. He received almost no financial support from his father from an early age and worked in Astley's Theatre under his uncle Davis, where he was employed in mimic battles and pageants. Spent much of his leisure time making sketches, and in 1809, without any instruction, succeeded in painting a favourite horse belonging to Sir Henry Meux so successfully that it was purchased by the owner. This was the start of an artistic career which eventually led to his being elected Royal Academician in 1820. Most of his pictures were of small dimensions and represented groups of horses and animals, field sports, and battles in olden time. He died at Greenwich. Stephens,J.F. (1828) makes a number of references to beetles in the collection of 'my friend A. Cooper RA'. In 1858 Cooper wrote to the EWI.:'I have duplicates of Cicindela germanica also Cleonus nebulosus and should be most happy to exchange them for Carabus intricatus or clathratus'. Two years later he is listed in the Ent. Ann. as being interested in 'British insects' and living at 19 New Millman Street, Guildford Street, London WC. Chalmers-Hunt, J.M. (1976) records that Cooper's collection of British insects was sold on 3 May 1869 by Stevens. The manuscript journal of Oliver E. Janson in the Cambridge University Museum states that it was bought by his father and formed 'part of the ... collection which he has recently ceded to me'. There are accounts of Cooper in most of the standard art reference works. (MD 3/02) | |
| COOPER, Beowulf A. | One of the founding members of the Amateur Entomologists Society. Published a number of notes on Coleoptera, particularly Elateridae and their larvae, in the EMM. during the period 1945 - 1947. He was attached for most of this time to the Department of Agriculture at the University of Leeds. He susequently joined the National Agricultural Advisory Service at Cambridge. At one time he lived at 'Elater', 27 Spilsby Road, Boston, Lincolnshire. There are specimens of Elateridae collected by him in the general collection at Doncaster Museum and with K.C.Lewis. Member BENHS from 1936 and Life Member in 1978. Also member of the AES where his interests were listed in 1945 as General entomology, Lepidoptera, Migration, Ecology, Economic Entomoloy, and Coleoptera especially Elateridae. (MD 3/02) | ||
| COOPER, Joyce OMER- | See OMER-COOPER, Joyce |