Born in Edinburgh and educated in the High School there. Came to London determined to pursue natural history in which he had a strong interest and joined the staff of the British Museum in December 1835. From 1842 –1850 he had charge of the Coleoptera Collections. Waterhouse et.al. (1906) p.553, state that in 1846 ‘he arranged the Cetoniadae and, in 1847, the Hydrocanthari; commencing the Buprestidae the same year, he completed them in 1848; then proceeded to the Cleridae, completed in 1849’. In 1851-52 he was engaged upon the Longicornia which he completed in 1855.

West was one of the founder members of the South London Entomological Society in 1872, and became curator of their collection in 1879, retaining the role until his death in 1920. His interests included both Hemiptera and Coleoptera the last dating from at least the mid 1860s. Many of his more interesting captures are discussed by Peter Chandler in a comprehsive account of West in Br.J.Ent.Nat.Hist, 34, 202, 31-68 which includes two portrait photographs and a bibliography.

Followed a medical career which led to his joining the Royal Army Medical Corps. He received serious injuries at the battle of Loos from which he never fully recovered. On retirement he lived on the Isle of Wight where he was closely associated with the Natural History Society of which he was President for 2 years. His main interest in entomology was in beetles.(Proc. RESL ., (C) 1, 1937, p.56) . FRES 1923-37. (MD 12/04, 12/06)