Born into a clerical family his father afterwards becoming Bishop of Derby. Educated at Sherborne School where he first became interested in natural history. Attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and took a third in the Natural History Tripos in 1924. Became a Deacon in 1932 and was ordained priest in 1933. His first living was at St. Marks, Swindon, but in 1935 he entered the Anglican community at Mirfield, later becoming Prior of St Teilo, Cardiff (1955-58) and Prior of Codrington College, Barbados (1958-68) where he was known as Father Justin. He became ill whilst abroad and although he returned to England he never really recovered. He died at Lincoln. There is an obituary by Charles MacKechnie-Jarvis in EMM., 119, 1983, pp.171-76 which includes a photograph and bibliography of 98 titles published between 1919 and 1975. Of these his two best known works are probably the List of the Coleoptera of Dorset (1926), written when he was 23 years old (he subsequently added three supplements in 1927, 1929, and 1931) and his RESL Handbook Pselaphidae (1957). His main collections of Pselaphidae, Scydmaenidae (and some Haliplidae), including many paratypes, are in the NMW, given in 1958 before he went to Barbados. They amount to some 6,000 specimens and are accompanied by 14 files of MS material. His main collection of Haliplidae is in the NHM where is also housed 6 British collecting log books 1920-1952 and 1969-1973, a three-box MS Catalogue of the Pearce Collection Haliplidae, one MS notebook Material deposited or sent to the British Museum, miscellaneous photographs and slides, and a loose leaf MS of his earliest collecting records, c.1920 (Harvey, et al (1996) p.154). I have also seen specimens collected by him in the Doncaster Museum (many Haliplidae), in the Britten collection at Manchester, and his Wiltshire water beetles are in my collection (ex Marlborough College).There is correspondence with Herbert Franz (27 April 1953), Walter Horn (11 Januray, 4 May, 3 August 1937) and Jan Obenberger (May 1948) in the RESL (Pedersen (2002) pp. 83, 91). FRES from 1922. (MD 9/04, 11/09)
Dates
1 July 1903 – 1982