Herbert Willoughby Ellis

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Herbert Willoughby Ellis FRES FGS (28 June 1869-15 October 1943) was a British entomologist. [1] [2] [3]

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Biography

Ellis was born in Woodville, Burton-upon-Trent. He attended Nuneaton School and Coppers Hill College before training as an electrician. [1]

In 1890 he joined the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society. He served as a Vice-President of the society in 1907 and then from 1910 to 1939, and as its President in 1908 and 1909. Ellis was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society in 1900 and he served on its council in 1924, 1931, 1936, and 1938. [1] He was also a member of the British Ornithologists' Union and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

Ellis was an avid collector of entomology, especially of coleoptera and amassed a large reference collection. He was responsible for finding and recording the discovery of Arhopalus ferus (then as "Criocephalus polonicus") as new to Britain. [4] He also corresponded and exchanged specimens with William Gabriel Blatch, [5] acquiring some of Blatch's collection after his death. [6]

After his death, Reginald Wagstaffe and Walter Douglas Hincks (both naturalists) were instrumental in purchasing part of his collection for the Yorkshire Museum. [1] Over 100,000 specimens were purchased in 1945. [7]

Select publications

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Denton, M. (1993). Ground Beetles in the Yorkshire Museum. North Yorkshire County Council. pp. 5–8.
  2. Blair, K.G. (1943). "Obituary: Willoughby-Ellis, Herbert". Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 79: 280.
  3. Cockayne, E.A. "Obituary: Ellis, Herbert Willoughby". Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 8: 69.
  4. "Criocephalus polonicus (Molsch.): A Genus and species of Longhorn Ceoleoptera new to Britain". Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation. 15: 259–260.
  5. "Blatch, William Gabriel". UK Coleoptera. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  6. Horace (1905). "Reviews and Notices of Books: The Coleoptera in the Victoria History of the County of Warwick". 17: 165–166.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Simms, Colin (1968). "A List of Botanical and Zoological Collections at the Yorkshire Museum, York". The Naturalist. 904: 85–89.