COWLEY, John

Born and died in Sussex but travelled extensively. He was of independent means. Primarily interested in Odonata and, later in life, Diptera, and his collections were given to the NHM. He collected beetles too, however, and there are specimens bearing his name in the Kauffmann collection of Cerambycidae at Manchester, and in Colin Johnson's collection of British weevils at the same institution. Harvey et al (1996) p.53 list manuscript material in the NHM. Duff 1993, p.6 notices that Cowley ‘was active in the Mid-Somerset Naturalist’s Society, as well as for some time Secretary of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society Entomological Section. Although born in Sussex, he moved to Edington in 1943 and then collected fairly widely in Somerset up until his death, although nearly all of his beetles were identified by [W.A.] Wilson and some of his specimens were probably incorporated into the latter’s collection. At least part of Cowley’s collection is said to be in the NHM (A.J.Parsons, pers. comm.). Cowley also provided Wilson with the results of an extensive search of the entomological literature for Somerset references. His beetle records are taken from Wilson’s card index in the Taunton County Museum. A brief obituary is in Proc.Som.Arch.Nat.Hist.Soc.’ Pedersen (2002) p.121 lists correspondence with C.J.Wainwright, 1945, in the RESL. (MD ?, 11/09)
This is presumably the J.Cowley who compiled, the Directory of Amateur Entomologists, 1947, for the AES. FRES from 1931. There is a brief obituary in Proc.RESL., C, 32, 1967-68, p.59. (MD 4/02)