Biographical dictionary
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| Name | Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRIBB, Herbert Joseph | 16 January 1898 - 6 November 1967 | Born in Hammersmith and educated at Latimer School. Served in the Royal Sussex Regiment 1916-1919 and was wounded at the Battle of the Somme. Subsequently became a sculptor and served as Eric Gill's first apprentice. Lived at Ditchling and was one of the founder members of the Guild of St. Joseph and Dominic there. His carvings are to be found in churches and public buildings at home and abroad. Cribb's interest in Coleoptera started at least as early as the First World War when he is recorded to have collected in the Somme Valley. Although he specialised in Carabidae and water beetles in particular his interests were widespread. He collaborated with Norman Joy in the preparation of his Handbook, 1932, acted as advisor on Coleoptera to the AES of which he was an active member, and exchanged specimens widely with other collectors. Between 1957 and his death he joined several collecting forays to the Alps and Pyrenees, and subsequently exhibited specimens taken at AES exhibitions. He published a number of notes in the EMM. and in the Bulletin of the AES mostly recording captures of beetles in Sussex and southern England, or interesting specimens sent to him by correspondents. One of the most important was 'The species of Plateumaris and Donacia in Sussex' in EMM., 90, 1954, p.80. Cribb bequeathed three cabinets of beetles collected during his lifetime to the Booth Museum, Brighton and there are also specimens in the collection K.C.Lewis. On Cribb’s work as a sculptor see many references in F. MacCarthy, Eric Gill, 1989. (I am grateful to his son Peter Cribb, the well known Lepidopterist, for information) (MD 4/02, 12/06) | |
| CRIPPS, H. | Published 'Notes of the Season' in ERJV., 1, 1890, 133-34, an account of collecting at Brockenhurst and Chattenden, which included Coleoptera. He lived at Dalyell Road, Stockwell. This is probably the same Cripps who showed Coleoptera at meetings of the CLENHS at this time (as recorded in eg. ERJV., 2, 1891, p.300, and 3, 1892, p.21) (MD 4/02) | ||
| CROFT, Henry Holmes | 1820 - 1 March 1883 | Born in London. Educated by French and Spanish refugees, and subsequently at Tavistock House. During this period he became particularly interested in chemistry. After leaving school he spent a year in the office of his father who was Deputy Paymaster General in the Ordnance Department. After taking advice from Faraday, Croft was sent to study chemistry at the University of Berlin and it was there that he first became interested in entomology. After three and a half years, when he obtained many distinctions, he returned to England. In 1842 Croft was recommended by Faraday for the chair of Chemistry at the newly formed University of Toronto in Canada. He arrived there in January 1843 and remained for thirty six years becoming Vice-Chancellor in 1849 and a member of two of the University's governing bodies. Croft resigned his professorship in 1879 and moved to San Diego in Texas where he died. Outside of his work at the University Croft pursued his natural history activities very actively. He became a leading member of the local agricultural and horticultural societies, and in 1863 was instrumental in the establishment of the Entomological Society of Ontario which first met at his house and of which he was President 1863-64 and 1868-71. Croft's particular enthusiasm was for Coleoptera, and C.J.S. Bethune, who was inspired by and collected with him, recorded in Canadian Entomologist, 48, 1916, p.1-5, that he formed a local collection. Croft's life forms part of a book by J. King, McCaul: Croft: Forneri; Personalities of Early University Days, 1915. Other accounts are listed by Gilbert (1976) pp.79-80. (MD 4/02) | |
| CROSS, W. | Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1860, as being interested in British Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. His address is given as Dales Street, Preston. (MD 4/02) | ||
| CROTCH, George Robert | 1842 - 16 June 1874 | Born in Somerset the son of the Rev. W.R.Crotch and the grandson of Dr W.Crotch, organist to George III. Little is known of his youth except that his father took a post at Cambridge and that his son gained a place at the University matriculating at St.John's College in 1861 and graduating in 1864. In 1866 he was appointed to a post at the University Library and in the following year obtained the better post of second assistant librarian. It was at this time that he gained his M.A. He resigned this post in 1871 in order to undertake a world tour having been awarded a grant of £200 from the Wort's Fund 'for the purpose of collecting specimens in Natural History, and investigating the fauna of those regions'. He intended to visit the United States, Central America, the Pacific Islands and Australia. He set off in October 1872 to spend the winter in Philadelphia studying collections and publishing in the American journals. In the spring of 1873 he crossed to the west coast and spent the summer collecting in California, Oregon and British Columbia. In the autumn he took a post at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. When Professor Agassiz died in 1874 this terminated and Crotch, who was already ailing with tuberculosis, returned to Philadelphia. After six weeks he died at the home of Professor Lesley, and was buried in Philadelphia. During his short life of only thirty two years Crotch achieved a prodigious amount. His interest in entomology appears to have begun with the Lepidoptera on which he published his first note in Zool., 1856, at the age of fourteen. His interest in beetles, which was to dominate the rest of his life, began shortly after, and his first note 'Capture of Sphaerius acaroides, Hydrochus carinatus, etc. in the Fens' appeared in 1861 (ibid., 19, 1861, p.7724). In the following year he exhibited Dermestes frischii Kugelan at the Entomological Society in London and read notes about it, and he added a number of new species to the British list (ibid., 20, 1862, p.8083). At the same time he was working on a checklist of the British fauna which he published as A Catalogue of British Coleoptera, 1863, and on the British species of Helophorus, about which he wrote in Zool., 21, 1863, p.8610. The Catalogue contained the names of a great many species not previously recorded as British, and differed considerably in its arrangement and nomenclature from earlier catalogues, particularly in so far as it introduced the work of Continental authors. It was the first of a number of publications in which Crotch showed his wide knowledge of the literature, particularly the historic literature of entomology for which he was much respected by his contemporaries. In the following year Crotch made the first of a number of trips abroad specifically to collect Coleoptera, visiting the Canary Islands with his brother William Duppa (see below) where they were so successful that they were able to add no less than seventy seven species to Wollaston's earlier list. This trip was followed in 1865 and 1870 by visits to Spain, the first in company with several members of the Entomological Society of France. The publications listed above were followed by more than sixty further separately published papers and articles, the most important of which are: Catalogue of British Coleoptera, second edition, 1866; List of all the Coleoptera of the families Cicindelidae, Carabidae and Dytiscidae described AD. 1758-1821 referred to their modern genera, 1871; Synopsis Coleopterorum Europae et confinium anno 1868 descriptorum, 1871; List of Coccinellidae, 1871; Checklist of the Coleoptera of America north of Mexico, 1873; A revision of the coleopterous family Coccinellidae, 1874; and A revision of the coleopterous family Erotylidae (first published in Cistula Entomologica, 1, part XLVI, 1876, pp.377-572, but printed separately by Cambridge University Press in 1901). Crotch amassed considerable collections both in England and during his travels. In his will, made before he left for the United States, he bequeathed his collections of European Coleoptera (152 store boxes) and worldwide Coccinellidae and Erotylidae to the Zoological Museum in Cambridge, England. The last two are maintained separately but the first was incorporated into the main collection in 1945 after 100 specimens had been transferred to the Newbery collection in 1934. Crotch also gave other insects, including: Diptera and Hymenoptera from Weston-super-Mare; Trichoptera from Cambridge; and Coleoptera from Asturias in N. Spain (120 specimens), Greece and Smyrna (50 specimens), Natal (107 specimens collected by Miss Colenso), and the collections of T.V.Wollaston and E.W.Janson which he had purchased. Another collection of Coccinellidae was acquired by the NHM and is the subject of a published catalogue by R.D.Gordon (BM(NH) occasional paper, 1987). Crotch also gave insects to Charles Darwin, see Smith, K.G.V., ‘Darwin’s Insects, Charles Darwin’s entomological notes’, Bulletin (BM(NH), Historical series, 14(1), 1987, pp.1-143. Crotch gave a number of manuscript journals, etc. to the Cambridge University Museum in 1871. These include: a volume entitled Coccinellidae received or communication; a yearly bibliography titled Philhydrida Europae chronologice disposita auch G.R.Crotch ... 1838 - 1867; a Canary Islands Collecting Journal covering the period 28 April to 22 August 1864; and a fattish volume of letters, lists, etc. mainly relating to localities of his British Coleoptera and to certain rare specimens in the collection, but also including notes about the collections of E.W.Janson and T.V.Wollaston. Many of these notes were added by Hugh Scott and explain how to tell the Wollaston and Janson material from Crotch's specimens (useful because Crotch re-mounted many of their specimens on to his own cards). There are also beetles collected by Crotch in the P.B.Mason, C.Dupre, C.G.Hall and J.K.Taylor Collections at Bolton Museum, and he was also a major contributor to the C.G.Hall collection at Oldham Museum (specimens dated 1841-1874. Some from Monks Wood and Ireland. I am grateful to Simon Hayhow for this information). His Azores collection was presented by Godman to the NHM in 1871. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) records that a number of Crotch's British Coleoptera duplicates were sold by Stevens on 16 May 1899. Crotch's American collections are housed in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, Cambridge, U.S.A. where the material has been incorporated into the general collection. There are also Crotch specimens in the Leconte Collection at this institution. Smart and Wager (see below) quote a letter from J.F.Lawrence about this material as follows: 'There are Crotch types scattered throughout the collection, but some are not well marked and have not been catalogued. Certain specimens in the LeConte Collection are labelled as Crotch types (LeConte underlined the author's name in these cases), but in other cases it has been impossible to ascertain just which specimen in a series is actually the type, or whether it is here at all. Assuming that most of the North American species described by Crotch ended up here, we might have as many as 150 types, but at the present time it is not possible to get an exact figure'. Gilbert (1977) lists ten obituary and other notices, the most important of which are probably: Ent., 7, 1874, pp.236-240 (by Edward Newman); EMM., 11, 1874, 70-72, and H.Edwards, 'A Tribute to the Memory of George Robert Crotch', Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 5, 1875, 332-334. Agassiz, A History of Entomology, 1931, 598-600, includes a photographic portrait of Crotch (with an enormous beard!) and a list of some of the more important beetles he described. Since the publication of Gilbert's book, John Smart and Barbara Wager have published 'George Robert Crotch, 1842-1874: a bibliography with a biographical note' in J.Soc. Biblphy nat. Hist.,8(3), 1977, 244-248. Their list of Crotch's publications includes 67 items. Correspodence with J.C.Dale from Cambridge dated 1870 is in the RESL (Pederson 2002). (MD 4/02) | |
| CROTCH, William Duppa | 1843/44 - 25 August 1903 | Younger brother of George Robert (see above). An obituary notice in EMM., 39, 1903, p.256, states: 'we think he studied for the medical profession, but, finding it distasteful, did not qualify'. It is certain that he accompanied his brother on entomological excursions from an early date and that in his youth he shared with him an almost equal enthusiasm. He published his first entomological article (on Lepidoptera) in Zoo., 16, 1858, p.6213, and his first note on Coleoptera in EWI., 8, 1860, p.54. He also published on the Hemiptera at this time. In the Spring of 1862 Crotch visited the Canary Islands to collect Coleoptera and T.V.Wollaston, Catalogue of the Coleopterous Insects of the Canaries in the Collection of the British Museum, 1864, records that he captured forty four new species there. Wollaston also makes frequent reference to Crotch's 'accurate and indefatigable researches'. Two years later he repeated the visit in the company of his brother when they added a further seventy seven species to the earlier lists. The obituary referred to above mentions that Crotch married a Swedish girl and moved to Scandinavia 'apparently doing very little entomologically, but occupying himself with an exhaustive study of the lemming and its migrations, the results of which were published'. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) records that Crotch's collections were sold by Stevens on 19 June 1900. (MD 4/02) | |
| CROWSON, Roy Albert | 22 November 1914 – 13 May 1999 | Born in Hadlow, Kent. Educated at Judd School, Tonbridge and at Imperial College, London University (Ph.D. 1937). Served in the Royal Air Force 1941/2-46. He was appointed Assistant Curator of the Tunbridge Wells Museum in 1938 and worked there until 1948 when he took up the post of Lecturer in Zoological Taxonomy at Glasgow University. Promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1964, and, on his retirement in 1980, Honorary Lecturer. His flat, close to the University, where he lived with his wife Betty (nee Campbell, married 1954) was well known to numerous visiting entomologists. Crowson’s interest in Coleoptera started when he was only seven years old, and turned to their evolutionary history when he read Darwin’s Origin of Species at the age of eleven. In a letter to me in July 2012 Geoff Hancock related that Crowson had told him that ''he wasn't really interested in species as such', but, as with many things he often had a twinkle in his eye or was sending out a challenge'. Crowson's publications included a little over one hundred books and articles dealing with different aspects of the Coleoptera many in conjunction with other authors eg. T. Sen Gupta, H. Kasap and his wife, some of whom were his students at Glasgow. Among the first of his articles were two on the metendosternite in Coleoptera (Trans.RESL., 87, 1938, 397-416 and 94, 1944, 273-310), the research for which had been carried out as part of his Ph.D. Much of his subsequent research was on the higher classification and led in 1950 to the appearance of the first of his articles on ‘The Classification of the Families of British Coleoptera’ (EMM, 86,149-171. later parts appeared ibid., 274-288, 327-344; 87, 1951, 117-128, 147-156; 88, 1952, 64-71, 109-132; 89, 1953, 37-59, 181-198, 237-248; 90, 1954, 57-63) subsequently published in book form as The Natural Classification of the Families of British Coleoptera in 1955, and in 1967 with additions and corrections from the EMM., 103, 1967, 209-214. Shortly after the completion of the original set of articles Crowson published Coleoptera: Introduction and Keys to Families as vol.IV, part 1 (1956) of the Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects produced by the RESL. Crowson's work included the study of larval and fossil material both of which are referred to throughout his publications. His first article devoted to fossils specifically, 'The fossil insects of the Weald' appeared in Royal Tunbridge Wells: Past and Present, 1946, pp.24-26, and subsequent publications on this topic have included 'Some thoughts concerning the insects of the Baltic Amber', Proc. 12th int. Congr. Ent. London, 1964, 133, the chapter on Coleoptera in W.B.Harland et al, The Fossil Record, 1967, and 'The evolutionary history of Coleoptera, as documented by fossil and comparative evidence' in AttiXCongr. naz. Ital. Entom. Sassari, 1976, 47-90. Among many important papers on the subject of the British Coleopterous fauna his publication of his discovery of Leistus rufomarginatus Duft. on the Lower Greensand hills near Sevenoaks, as new to Britain, must be one of the best known (EMM., 78, 1942, 281-82). After moving to Scotland he contributed many articles on the subject of the Scottish Coleopterous fauna to the Glasgow Naturalist and the EMM. in particular, in some of which he was assisted by his wife. Crowson's last major publications were Classification and Biology, 1971 (not related to Coleoptera particularly though they are mentioned), and The Biology of the Coleoptera, 1981 in which he exhibited a prodigious knowledge of early and contemporary literature (and updates his earlier Classification). Biology, Phylogeny and Classification of Coleoptera, by 25 different authors, was published in Warsaw in 1995 in honour of his 80th birthday. Crowson made a number of collecting trips abroad. He visited Australia and New Zealand after winning a Leverhulme research fellowship, and in April 1959 he was a guest with his wife at a biological Research Station at Rieti, in the Central Appenines, Italy. In 1969 he was appointed to the Alexander Agassiz visiting lectureship at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and was able to explore the United States as a result. In 1968 the Congress of Entomology in Moscow enabled him to meet many Russian entomologists. The New Zealand trip prompted a particular interest in the Australasian fauna on which he published a number of articles. Further information about his work abroad, as well as about his broad ranging views on many topics including socialism (he believed communism held the answer to social injustice in the 1930s but became disillusioned like so many others in the 50s) is to be found in Colin Johnson’s obituary mentioned below. 13 taxa have been dedicated to Crowson the most famous being Crowsoniella relicta, Pace, a fascinating endogean beetle discovered in Central Italy in 1975, which is the only representative of the Archostemata in Europe (Boll. Mus. civ. Storia nat.Verona, 2, 1976, 445-458). Crowson’s collection included a large number of Coleoptera larvae (all families), world wide. A large collection of microscope slides of adult and larval Coleoptera of all families, worldwide, as well as a collection of fossil insects, including a few paratypes, are in the NHM, together with a MS notebook titled The Metendosternite in Coleoptera. Descriptive Notes and Sketches. He also accumulated a large library relating to all families and topics. FRES from 1937. Member of the Coleopterist's Society from 1971 (Vice-President 1971-1975). Honorary Fellow of the All-Union Entomological Society, Moscow, USSR, 1980. There is an obituary by Colin Johnson in EMM, 137, 2001, 237-241 (with photograph, but without bibliography) (Information from RAC before his death). At Crowson's memorial service the NHM was represented by Peter Hammond who kindly furnished me with a copy his address (dated June 1999) which I am pleased to be able to repeat here in full: 'Roy Crowson, the most remarkable and the most influential zoologist to have worked on the systematics of beetles in this century, spent most of his career in Glasgow [but he had] a close and ongoing relationship [with the NHM in London] during the more than sixty years that he was engaged in active research. Although what I have to say is in the way of a personal tribute, I am also here to represent the Museum, and to acknowledge the debt that, collectively, we owe to Roy. Tempered as these occasions may be by sadness and regrets (such as my own, that I will mention later, for opportunities missed), we are here to celebrate Roy's scientific and other achievements. In contributing to this celebration, although entirely 'unelected' and without their permission, I hope to represent that thriving group of biologists, coworkers, and students of Roy's throughout the world, who are involved in work on his primary area of research- the biology and taxonomy of that enormous group of organisms known as Coleoptera or beetles, I spoke to a number of my BM colleagues before coming here today, to elicit their views on Roy's scientific achievements. Words and comments that cropped up frequently were 'inspirational', 'ground breaking', 'ahead of his time', 'scholarship' and 'integrity'. However, it surprised even me, as a long-term admirer of Roy and his works, how often my colleagues, be they entomologists, botanists or veterbaret-zoologists, referred to him as 'a giant in the field of systematic biology'... Roy's relationship with the BM began with his earliest research on beetles in the 1930s. In his first major publication of 1938, a truly ground-breaking comparative study of internal structural features in beetles, he acknowledges his visits to the BM and the the help he received there. Since then, until the last few years at least, we have been fortunate to receive Roya as a vistor on a regular basis. M<any former staff of the Department as well as those currently in post have bulging files of correspondence from him. He was a prolific correspondent. His letters were always informative, often exciting, usually combative in tone at least in part, and sometimes even intimidating to the initiated. I still, perhaps perversely, treasure a letter he sent me more than twenty years ago in relation to a just-published paper of which I was proud. He jumped straight in saying (and I quote) that his 'first reaction to the paper is that is somewhat intellectually pretentious' (ouch!), but in due course the letter gets round to the positive and the encouraging ... This was Roy's way in both correspondence and conversation. First the problems, the quibbles, the latest things that were troubling him, and then, once you got through all of this, the supportive comments, the advice, and the chance to tap the immense store of relevant information on beetles... Roy's achievements as a systematist have been and will be referred to by others today. His 1970 book Classification and Biology remains a standard and to many, despite recent developments in the field of biosystematics, still the most useful general work on the theory and practice of this science. His 802 page The Biology of the Coleoptera published in 1981, although not easy to use, is also, in its way, a masterpiece that will remain an essential reference work for decades to come. To me, however, Roy's crowning achievement has been the hands-on work on beetle classification that lasted through his career, much of it, however, produced early on, from about 1950 through into the 1960s. John Lawrence and others in a contribution to the Festschrift honouring Roy in 1995 give something of the flavour of the Crowson contribution when they say (and I quote) 'Crowson's work represents much more than a synthesis of the ideas of previous workers, since it involves the accumulation of a great number of original observations and unique interpretations over a period of more than 50 years', and 'The Natural classification of the Coleoptera ... was based on detailed morphological studies of adults and larvae representing the largest number of taxa ever sampled in this way'. What I had to say when refereeing a grant application from Roy in relatively recent years adds to this (and I quote again) 'To what he has achieved in context one has only to consider the size of the Order of the Coleop[tersa (some 4000,000 described species currently accepted as valid), and the very different was in which these numerous species were classified prior to his seminal contributions. The recognition by Crowson, for example, of the now universally accepted Cucujoiformia as a monophyletic group may be considered as one of the major classificatory innovations in systematic biology...' How did Roy manage to do all of this? OIn the long run this is a question for historians of science, and I will do no more than make a few obvious suggestions here. Clearly his achievements would not have been possible without a fine intellect. His dedication, drive, and commitment to scholarship, as well as his intellectual honesty and integrity are also likely have been important. The valued and invaluable support of his wife Betty, and perhaps also the general mix of personal and professional circumstances that meant that he was not too readily diverted or side-tracked, are other factors not be overlooked. Re-reading the thoughtful essays on Roy's contributions to systematics and to the classification of Coleoptera in particular in the pages of his festschrift volumes I note that, however appreciative, they are nevertheless coloured (perhaps inevitably) by issues of particular contemporary concern and viewpoints that are currently fashionable but by no means bound to persist, In all probability, we must wait a while for a fuller and more profound appreciation of Roy's life works. When this does arrive, my prediction is that recognition of his achievements in classifying beetles will remain undiluted, while his reputation as a seer and something of a prophet will be greatly enhanced. To end my tribute, I must say that Roy has made life for his fellow British coleopterists a privileged and easy one. For example, to come from 'the land of Crowson' has always meant to me that one could expect a measure of instant if unearned respect from insect systematists when visiting other parts of the world. Thanks to Roy the systematics of 'Gods favoured creatures' did not readily subside in Britain through the middle and later years of this century, leaving the contributions of our leading 19th century coleopterists such as David Sharp merely a distant testament. As a giant among coleopterists, a giant among systematists and a giant among scholars Crowson has given us inspiration as well as much to celebrate'. (MD 4/02, 1/22) |
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| CROWTHER, Henry | Wrote six notes on beetles between 1877 and 1896: 'Wetherby Coleoptera' (Naturalist, 3, 1877, p.8); 'Carabus nitens at Richmond' (ibid., p.25); 'Clivina fossor. Linn.' (ibid., pp.25-26); 'Coleoptera at Norland Moor' (ibid., p.59); 'Clivina fossor myrmecophilus' (EMM., 15, 1878, p.19) and ‘Monochammus sutor in Yorkshire' (Ent., 28, 1895, p.16). He also wrote one note about locusts. Mick Cooper informs me that there is further information about Crowther in Nottingham Museum. (MD 4/02, 10/03) | ||
| CROWTHER, James | Mentioned by W.E.Sharp, The Coleoptera of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1908, p.12 as one of the 'earlier ... students' of Coleoptera in the area. (MD 4/02) | ||
| CROZIER, George | Also mentioned by W.E.Sharp (see above) in this category. Lived at Eccleston in the Fylde. (MD 4/02) |