Biographical dictionary | UK Beetle Recording

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

BLACKBURN, Thomas

16 March 1844 - 28 May 1912

Name	Dates	Biography
BLACKBURN, Thomas	16 March 1844 - 28 May 1912	Born in Islington, London. He was a Church of England clergyman who emigrated to Australia in 1882 after periods firstly as a Civil Servant and later as Chaplain to the Bishop of Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands (from end 1876). He died at Woodville Vicarage, Adelaide, South Australia. Blackburn's interest in insects developed in his teens and was shared by his brother (John Bickerton Blackburn (1845-1881, a Lepidopterist). His first notes appeared in the Ent.Weekly Int., and when this failed he continued writing in the Weekly Entomologist, a magazine which he published himself, at first at Altrincham, Cheshire, and later in London. The Weekly Entomologist came to an end in November 1863 after 65 numbers had been published, and was immediately followed by the Ent.mon.Mag.,of which Blackburn was one of the original five editors. He quickly gave up this post however at the time of being ordained. Although he did write on other orders Blackburn's main interest was the Coleoptera. He added several new species to the British list, and amongst many species he described as new to science - 3,069 from Australia alone! - was Apion ryei from the Shetlands (Ent.mon.Mag., 11, 1874, 126). In 1875 and 1876 he published a number of 'Outline descriptions of British Coleoptera in the Scottish Naturalist; and following his stay in Honolulu, a substantial paper with David Sharp titled 'Memoirs of the Coleoptera of the Hawaiian Islands' in the Scientific Transactions Royal Dublin Society, (2) 3, 1883-7, 119-(290). He also published on the beetles of the Sandwich Islands. He had disposed of most of his collections some time before this. A British Coleoptera collection was auctioned by Stevens in 1870, and a second British collection was acquired by the South Australia Museum at Adelaide in 1909. Most of his types passed to the NHM in 1909 apart from 334 specimens (out of a total of 898 representing 419 species) being a 'selection' from his Hawaiian collection, which the Museum purchased in 1888. There is a typescript Index of Coleoptera type specimens in the Blackburn collection in the NHM. There is a lengthy obituary by A.M. Lea in Transactions Royal Society South Australia, 36, l912, v-xi, including portrait and bibliography, and shorter accounts in the Ent.mon.Mag.,1912, 219, and Ent.News, 23, 1912,436. (MD 10/01)

Born in Islington, London. He was a Church of England clergyman who emigrated to Australia in 1882 after periods firstly as a Civil Servant and later as Chaplain to the Bishop of Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands (from end 1876). He died at Woodville Vicarage, Adelaide, South Australia.

Blackburn's interest in insects developed in his teens and was shared by his brother (John Bickerton Blackburn (1845-1881, a Lepidopterist). His first notes appeared in the Ent.Weekly Int., and when this failed he continued writing in the Weekly Entomologist, a magazine which he published himself, at first at Altrincham, Cheshire, and later in London. The Weekly Entomologist came to an end in November 1863 after 65 numbers had been published, and was immediately followed by the Ent.mon.Mag.,of which Blackburn was one of the original five editors. He quickly gave up this post however at the time of being ordained.

Although he did write on other orders Blackburn's main interest was the Coleoptera. He added several new species to the British list, and amongst many species he described as new to science - 3,069 from Australia alone! - was Apion ryei from the Shetlands (Ent.mon.Mag., 11, 1874, 126). In 1875 and 1876 he published a number of 'Outline descriptions of British Coleoptera in the Scottish Naturalist; and following his stay in Honolulu, a substantial paper with David Sharp titled 'Memoirs of the Coleoptera of the Hawaiian Islands' in the Scientific Transactions Royal Dublin Society, (2) 3, 1883-7, 119-(290). He also published on the beetles of the Sandwich Islands.

He had disposed of most of his collections some time before this. A British Coleoptera collection was auctioned by Stevens in 1870, and a second British collection was acquired by the South Australia Museum at Adelaide in 1909. Most of his types passed to the NHM in 1909 apart from 334 specimens (out of a total of 898 representing 419 species) being a 'selection' from his Hawaiian collection, which the Museum purchased in 1888. There is a typescript Index of Coleoptera type specimens in the Blackburn collection in the NHM.

There is a lengthy obituary by A.M. Lea in Transactions Royal Society South Australia, 36, l912, v-xi, including portrait and bibliography, and shorter accounts in the Ent.mon.Mag.,1912, 219, and Ent.News, 23, 1912,436. (MD 10/01)