MATTHEWS, Henry

Brother of Andrew (see above) and like him was also ordained. Clearly an enthusiastic Coleopterist but virtually all we know about him is contained in a note ‘Leistotrophus cingulatus in Devonshire; with obituary notice of the Rev. H.Matthews’ (EMM., 14, 1887, pp.38-39). ‘As a collector but few have ever been more successful, he seemed intuitively to recognise any strange form instantly on its appearance, and many of the best species recorded by myself in the pages of the EMM and other publications have been the result of his labours. Assisted by another brother (Mr J.B.Matthews), in Vancouver’s Island he amassed a vast number of rare Coleoptera, including Zacotus Matthewsi, Amphizoa Lecontei, Amphizoa Josephi, and many others new to science. Of these collections which he brought with him on his return... in 1869, and of my brother’s work, Dr Le Conte in the Ann.Mag.Nat.Hist, Dec. 1867, speaks in terms of the highest praise. ‘They have’, he says, ‘with great zeal explored the wilderness of British Columbia and Vancouver’s Island, and, in fact, have obtained the best material yet procured for a study of the distribution of species in those regions which remain, in a scientific sense, the most unexplored portions of North America’. The difficulties with which an entomologist has to contend in those regions will be more clearly understood by the fact, that several expert collectors, including the late G.R.Crotch, have since failed in the attempt to emulate my brother’s work’. On his return to England he contracted an illness whilst collecting in the neighbourhood of Ilfracombe and Westward Ho, Devon, from which he eventually died. Trichopteryx henrici was named after him by his brother Andrew. (MD 2/04,11/09)