British Museum (Natural History): Department of Entomology: Hemiptera Section: Correspondence...

DF 334

British Museum (Natural History): Department of Entomology: Hemiptera Section: Correspondence and Papers

1923-1991

The series consists of collected sectional correspondence spanning the years 1925 to 1980, together with the research correspondence and papers of William E China (1895-1979) and Victor F Eastop (b 1924). The former relates mainly to the acquisition, loan and exchanges of specimens, and includes letters addressed to Reginald J Izzard, W R Dolling, William J Knight and others as well as China and Eastop. The latter contain somewhat more personal letters relating to the progress of research and publication.

Public Record(s)

English

47 boxes and files

Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

DF 334/1-11 were transferred to the archives in 1993, the remainder in 1991.

The Hemiptera Section (known as Rhynchota Section until 1926) originated in 1922 with the appointment of William E China (1895-1979) to work on a number of hemipteran groups, together with the Orthoptera and"Neuropteroid" orders. Before that date W F Kirby had been nominally responsible for the group until his retirement in 1909, although it was a voluntary worker, W L Distant, who did the basic curatorial work on the growing collections. Frederick Laing worked on the smaller Homoptera as part of his economic work from his appointment in 1914 until 1950, but was never a formal member of the section. R J Izzard became China's assistant in 1937, retiring in 1965. In the 1950s the section was divided into two: the Hemiptera - Heteroptera and Homoptera (Auchenorrhyncha) Section, comprising bugs, leaf-hoppers etc, led by China and, from 1964, by W J Knight, and the Hemiptera - Homoptera (Sternorrhyncha) Section, comprising the plant-lice, led by J P Doncaster and, from 1960, Victor F Eastop (b 1924). Lawrence Mound joined the latter section to work on Thysanoptera (thrips) in 1964, and Miss Gillian M Day (later Mrs Black) worked as Assistant from 1954.

The Section shared room G in the southwest basement with Hymenoptera until 1926, when it moved to a larger room in the base of the west tower. In 1930 the Section moved to the New Spirit Building and was able to expand in relative comfort, and finally moved into the new Entomological Block in 1936.

W E China was educated at the Wandsworth Technical Institute and at Cambridge University. He served in the Royal Engineers and the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, and joined the Museum in 1922. He devoted his career to the Hemiptera, publishing more than 200 papers on the group. He spent World War II looking after the evacuated collections at Wray Castle in Westmorland. China was appointed Deputy Keeper in 1944, and was played a large part in the revival of the Department after the War. He retired in 1961, continuing as a part-time Senior Scientific Officer until 1966.