PARFITT, Eward

Born near Norwich. His father was Head Gardener to the Dean of Hereford and later to Lord Hastings and Parfitt began in this profession before becoming a sailor. After being shipwrecked at Cape Town, where he spent his time collecting plants and insects, he returned to England as a gardener in Devonshire before being appointed Curator of Taunton Museum in 1850. In 1861 he became Librarian to the Devon and Exeter Institution at Exeter where he remained until his death. During his time at the Institution Parfitt devoted himself to making large local collections of natural history material. These included beetles as is clear from several articles, eg: ‘Some account of the Coleoptera round Exeter’ (Naturalist, 4, 1854, pp.83-85); ‘Description of a species of Bledius new to the British list’ (Zool. 15, 1857, pp.5409-10); and ‘My first beetle hunt for this season’ (EWI., 4, 1858, p.61). In 1865 he reported finding Annomatus quadristriatus in large numbers in Exeter after it had not been recorded from Britain for many years (EMM., 2, 1865, p.13). Gilbert (1977) lists 4 obituaries including EMM., 29, 1893, p.73. (MD 9/04)