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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GANNING, Mrs | Listed as a subscriber to Denny (1825). Her address is given as Pottergate Street, Norwich. (MD 1/03) | ||
| GARDE, Philip le Hardy de la | 1868 - 12 May 1913 | Born in Exeter where his father and grandfather had been distinquished surgeons. Educated at Christ's Hospital and began professional life as a clerk in Lloyd's Shipping Office, but at the age of 17 entered the Royal Navy as assistant clerk. He was eventually promoted to Paymaster but as a result of failing health he was invalided out in 1905. He then lived with his mother in a number of different locations in Devon, when his health improved somewhat, before dying at the comparatively young age of 45. He is buried at Exeter. As a boy de la Garde was interested in the Lepidoptera but as a result of collecting around the world (many non Coleoptera in the HDO) became more interested in the Coleoptera and later the Hemiptera. His travels in Devon gave him a good insight into the local fauna and it is said that he had a new county list in draft before his death. Certainly he published various notes, particularly in the EMM. recording new additions to the Devon fauna. Apart from his own collections - described as ‘a model of neatness. He spared himself no pains in this respect, and no untidy example was allowed to pass muster’ - de la Garde acquired the residue of T.V.Wollaston's Atlantic Islands’ collection, comprising a large number of unidentified specimens, on which he worked 'with most gratifying results'. He exchanged 120 Coleoptera with the NHM in 1906 and gave 1,502 insects including 25 beetles (1906/88 and 1906/89). His obituary in EMM., 49, 1913, pp.161-62, also records that he was very generous in giving British specimens to other collectors. There is a second obituary in ERJV., 25, 1913, p.205. (MD 1/03) | |
| GARDINER | Sold more than 100 Coleoptera from Ceylon and India to the NHM in 1846-1847 (1846/7, 1846/107, 1847/92). (MD 1/03) | ||
| GARDINER, J.S. | A Professor. Gave 2 Beetles from Ceylon to the NHM in 1902 (1902/34) and, as a member of the Percy Sladen Trust Exepdition, 2,300 specimens (including 1,250 weevils) from the Seychelles (1913/170, 1914/552); 96 Corylophidae (1916/269) and 130 Anthribidae (1914/114). (MD 1/03) | ||
| GARDINER, Phyllis Claydon | Studied wood-boring Coleoptera whilst living at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. FRES from 1947. (MD 3/03) | ||
| GARDNER, Arthur Eric | 22 May 1913 -11 February 1976 | Born in Putney, served in the RAF during the war and worked as a salesman for Dean's blinds. His interest in entomology developed when he was a schoolboy and collected Lepidoptera. Later, as an angler, he became interested in the Ephemeroptera, Neuroptera and particularly the Odonata on which he published most of his important entomological research. His interest in Coleoptera likewise developed at this time and was centered particularly on the water beetles. Gardner was involved in several regional surveys including Wood Walton Fen, Buckingham Palace Garden and the Leckford Estate of the J. Spedan Lewis Trust (I have some correspondence concerning the last). His publications mainly concerned Dragonflies but did include several papers devoted to beetles the most important of which recorded his discovery of Eucinetus meridionalis Lap. new to Britain from a bog in South Hampshire (Ent.Gaz., 20, 1969, p.59). Gardner was an active member of the BENHS which he joined in 1947 becoming President in 1962 and serving as Curator from 1954 –1959, and 1963 until his death. He also served on the editorial board of the Society and on the boards of the Ent.(1953-1973) and the Ent.Gaz.(1953-1976).Gardner's collection of Coleoptera which included the F. Coulson collection is in the NMW. Other specimens collected by him (from Cambridgeshire in 1911) are in the general collection of Oldham Museum (Information from Simon Hayhow), and in the general collection of Doncaster Museum. I acquired his extensively annotated copy of Joy after his death. There is an obituary notice (by Charles Mackechnie-Jarvis) and portrait in Proc.BENHS., 10, 1977, pp.34-36 and another in Proc.RESL., Journal of Meetings, p.41, and Supplement, 1976-1977, p.49.FRES from 1948, Council 1953-55 (with particular responsibility for representing amateur entomologists). (MD 3/03) | |
| GARDNER, James Clark Molesworth | 15 March 1894 - 10 March 1970 | Worked for most of his life as a systematic entomologist at the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India, specialising in particular on the taxonomy of beetle larvae on which he became a considerable authority. The series of papers which he published under the title 'Immature stages of Indian Coleoptera' in Indian Forest Records, 1925-1938, laid the foundation for further studies in other parts of the world. There is a short obituary in Proc.RESL., 35, 1970-1971, (C), p.53. (MD 1/03) | |
| GARDNER, John | 28/29 December 1841 - 21 July 1921 | Born at Egglestone in Upper Teesdale. Moved to Hartlepool in early life and entered business as a timber merchant. He took an active interest in public affairs and was a member of the Town Council and the local Education Authority. After retiring he moved to Hart where he died. Gardner's love of entomology began when he was a boy and collected Lepidoptera on which he subsequently became a considerable authority helping William Buckler on larvae as well as publishing an important local list. His interest in Coleoptera is said in his obituary in EMM., 57, 1921, pp.236-237, to have begun in 1884. As with the Lepidoptera he concentrated on the local fauna discovering a large number of rare and interesting additions to those listed by Bold, (1871-1872). In particular he applied himself to the water beetles which were not well known and much of this research was incorporated by Richard Bagnall in his 'Notes on local Coleoptera', Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History Society. Davis and Brewer (1986) p.67 record that Gardner's collection was donated to the Hancock Museum in 1913-1915. They also note that 2,333 duplicates were donated by the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham and Herbert Fletcher on behalf of the Hancock Museum to Sunderland Museum on 19 April and 1 December 1915. There are also specimens in the general collection at Doncaster and in the Hall collection at Oldham (Information from Simon Hayhow). Chalmers-Hun (1976) p.157 records that some Coleoptera were sold through Stevens on 23 March 1920. FRES from 1890, and a member of the Coleoptera Committee of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union. Apart from the obituary mentioned above there are others in Ent., 1921, p.248; ERJV.,33, 1921, p.164; Proc.RESL. 1921, p.cxxix. and The Vascular, 8, pp.27-29. (MD 1/03) | |
| GARNER | A Professor. Gave 17 Coleoptera from West Africa to BMNH 'left in the Museum some years ago - collected by himself' (1899/74). (MD 1/03) | ||
| GARNER, Robert | Published The Natural History of the County of Stafford, 1844, which includes a list of beetles apparently collected by himself (307-313), Van Voorst, London. I am grateful to Tony Drane for producing an offprint for me). (MD 1/22) |