Little appears to be known about Wilson who wrote The Coleoptera of Somerset, 1958 (published as a Supplement to Proc. Som. Arch. Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 and 102) beyond the fact that he lived at ‘Sunny Patch’ 16 Ballfield Road, Minehead, Somerset in 1954 and that he held a managerial position in a cable and wireless firm. Many of the records in the book are his own and most of the species mentioned are in the collection he formed in 10 drawers and 21 store boxes, which he bequeathed to the Somerset County Museum at Taunton in 1969. It is accompanied by some field notes and record cards. A ms note from the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society sent to the RES, apparently at the time of his death, states: ‘Mr Wilson had no immediate family and appears to have been something of a recluse. Little is known of him locally... Mr Wilson also appears to have been a member of the British Trust for Entomology and the Mid Somerset Naturalist Society... Bridgewater.’ There is an obituary in Proc. Som. Arch. Nat. Hist. Soc., 113, 1969, pp. 112-13 which I have not seen. FRES 1954-1969 (MD 12/04, 1/07)
Dates
1892 – 26 March 1969