Arthur William Bacot (28 April 1866 – 12 April 1922) was an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. Major Greenwood and Joseph Arthur Arkwright
"The Life and Scientific Work of Arthur William Bacot".
''Journal of Hygiene'' Vol. 23 No. 3 March 1924. Retrieved 8 June 2015.

Early life

Bacot was born in North London, the third son and fourth child of Edmund Alexander Bacot and his wife Harriet. He was a poor attender at school which he left at the age of sixteen in 1882."A Hundred Years of Natural History Studies"
''New Scientist'' 5 June 1958. Retrieved 8 June 2015. He then became an office worker in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. He appears to have had no formal training in science apart from being a member of the

London Natural History Society The London Natural History Society (or LNHS as it is commonly known) is a local natural history society within the UK concerned with recording the wildlife of London, covering a circular area covering a 20-mile radius from St. Paul's Cathedral. T ...

Career

He had been a keen butterfly collector and produced over fifty papers from 1893 and 1909 on British

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

. In 1908 he developed an interest in morphological and genetic research. He developed breeding experiments with the

geometrid The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''metr ...

moth '' Acidalia virginaria'' (binomial name ''Scopula modicaria''). As a result of this he gave details in a presentation to the

London Hospital Medical School , mottoeng = Temper the bitter things in life with a smile , parent = Queen Mary University of London , president = Lord Mayor of London , head_label = Warden , head = Mark Caulfield , students = 3,410 , undergrad = 2,2 ...

. Professor Greenwood of the Advisory Committee for Plague Investigation was looking for someone to study the breeding habits of the

rat flea A rat flea is a parasite of rats. There are at least four species: * Oriental rat flea (''Xenopsylla cheopis''), also known as the tropical rat flea, the primary vector for bubonic plague * Northern rat flea (''Nosopsyllus fasciatus''). According ...

and how it passes on the plague virus."Arthur William Bacot, F.E.S"
''British Medical Journal''. 1922 Apr 22; 1(3199): 662–663. Retrieved 8 June 2015. Bacot was asked to do the research in his spare time with a small fee and all expenses paid. The program was a success and as a result Bacot joined the Lister Institute. In 1914 during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he went to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

British West Africa British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was orig ...

to study

Yellow Fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

. By autumn 1917 there was concern about the reduced efficiency of the British Expeditionary Force in France caused by trench fever. In 1917 he went together with Joseph Arkwright to investigate the cause and prevention of this incapacitating epidemic. He discovered the relationships of

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...

with both

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

and trench fever. Bacot caught the latter disease himself whilst in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Death

In 1922 he went to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

with Arkwright at the request of the Egyptian Government to study typhus. Both caught the disease from lice. Arkwright survived after a long illness; Bacot died aged 56.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacot, Arthur William 1866 births 1922 deaths 19th-century British biologists 20th-century British biologists British pathologists British microbiologists British entomologists