This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ptelea (talk | contribs) at 13:35, 6 January 2009. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:35, 6 January 2009 by Ptelea (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
.jpg)
Walter Hood Fitch
Monograph of the Genus Lilium
Henry John Elwes, FRS (16 May 1846 - 26 November 1922) was a British botanist and entomologist. Henry Elwes was one of the sixty inaugural recipients of the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897.
Henry John was the eldest son of J H Elwes of Colesbourne Park near Cheltenham. He studied at Eton and spent five years in the Scots Guards. He then travelled to various parts of the world and studied aspects natural history including botany, entomology, ornithology and big game. Elwes was described as "a giant of a man, and a very dominating character" with "a booming voice which carried well across his Gloucestershire estate, but was very disconcerting elsewhere" . In 1886 he was made a member of the Mission through Sikkim to Tibet and he made a report of this to the Geographical Section of the British Association. He also made collection trips to Sikkim, the United Provinces, Punjab, Central Provinces, Bengal, South Canara and Travancore. His Sikkim expedition alone yielded nearly 530 records of butterflies. He wrote a monograph on the Oriental Hesperiidae along with T. Edwards. He made a trip to the Altai region in 1898. His posthumously published Memoirs (1930) includes a chapter describing a visit to Nepal in 1914, a time when Europeans were seldom admitted. He mentions an unnamed companion. It is now known that his companion was the English naturalist Aubyn Trevor-Battye, who took some of the photographs used to illustrate this chapter.. He was a Fellow of the He was the author of Monograph of the Genus Lilium (1880) and Trees of Great Britain and Ireland with Augustine Henry, as well as numerous articles. He left a collection of 30,000 butterfly specimens to the Natural History Museum, including 11,370 specimens of Palaearctic butteflies .
Monograph on the Genus Lilium
The monograph was instigated by Elwes, a plant collector and gardener from Colesbourne, Gloucestershire, whose interest in botany had been sparked by a visit to the Himalayan region. In his garden he was able to grow many of the members of the Lilium genus and was a recognized expert in the field.
However, he played down his level of knowledge, and to ensure that the text was as accurate as possible, and that the range of lilies was as complete as possible, he consulted the greatest botanical experts in the field for help in writing the text. This level of excellence was continued with the illustrations, and Elwes was able to carry through his plan to illustrate the monograph with hand-coloured plates by the best available botanical artist, with each member of the genus shown full-size. Between March 1877 and May 1880 subscribers received seven parts (at a total cost of seven guineas), illustrated with 48 plates by Walter Hood Fitch (1817 - 1892).
Shortly before his death in 1922 Elwes had asked A. Grove, a friend and fellow lily expert, to undertake the task of producing the supplement. Dame Alice Godman, who was related by marriage to Elwes, agreed to underwrite the cost of the work (co-written by Grove and the botanist A. D. Cotton) and the first seven parts of the supplement were published between July 1933 and February 1940, with 30 hand-coloured lithographed plates, all but two by Lillian Snelling (1879-1972). Two final supplements have been published in 1960 and 1962 by William Bertram Turrill.
Works
- Elwes, H. J., On the butterflies of Amurlan, North China, and Japan, 1881, LV-LIX: 856-916
- Elwes, H. J., On the Lepidopteren of the Altai Mountains, 1899, pp. 295-367, pl. XI-XIV
- Elwes, H.J. Memoirs of Travel, Sport, and Natural History, Edited posthumously by E. G. Hawke. Benn, London, 1930.
References
- Anon (1923) Obituary: Henry John Elwes, F. R. S. The Geographical Journal 61(4):311
- Riley, N. D. History of Department of Entomology, p. 212.
- Stearn, W. T. Natural History Museum, p. 212.
- Rao, B R Subba (1998) History of Entomology in India. Institution of Agricultural Technologists. Bangalore.
- This visit is described in an unpublished manuscript: Indian Journal 1914 by Aubyn Trevor-Battye, now in the possession of A.T-B's descendants, along with the original photographs
- , Salmon, M. A. (2000). The Aurelian Legacy - Britain's butterliesand their collectors. Harley Books, Colchester. ISBN 0946589402
- Monogram background from Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA)