Finnish by birth but included here because he lived in Stockport for much of his later life when he was head of the Entomology Department at Flatters and Garnett’s laboratory at Fallowfield, Manchester (working with Peter Skidmore, Brian Cooke and Mary Black) and an active member of the Manchester Entomological Society. Skidmore, who was to become a close friend, writing of ‘Some Entomological Recollections of Baron Alexis de Porochin (1918-1980)’ in The Coleopterist, 12, 2003, pp. 21-22, described him ‘a small but flamboyant individual [with] an extremely kind and helpful manner...His knowledge of the ecological requirements of many beetles was considerable...Alec was for instance the only person I have known who had regularly taken Lamia textor.’ This skill as a field worker Skidmore put down to his long association with the Finnish Entomological Society and the fact that many rarities in Britain are common in Finland. One such was Bromius obscurus (L.) which Skidmore described de Porochin finding (and losing!)when they were out on one of the joint collecting trips which they made over a period of 11 years. Johnson (2004) records that 291 beetles collected by de Porochin were accessioned with Stanley Bowestead’s collection. by Manchester Museum in 1990. There is a longer account of de Porochin by Skidmore, which I have not seen, in Underwood, R. (1996) pp.104-107 including a portrait. (MD 11/09)
Dates
1918 – 1980