Amy Castle (9 May 1880 – 23 February 1971) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

museum curator and

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 ...

Biography

She was born in Maori Gully, near

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

on 9 May 1880. She was the first female scientist to be employed in the public service sector in New Zealand. She also played an important role in the history of New Zealand museums, as the first entomologist and first professional woman to be employed by one. She was first employed by the

Dominion Museum The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

as a temporary photography assistant in early 1907, and was appointed to permanent staff by July. She later transferred to the entomological collection, working under

Augustus Hamilton Augustus Hamilton (1 March 1853 – 12 October 1913) was a New Zealand ethnologist, biologist and museum director. He was born in Poole, Dorset, England on 1 March 1853. He wrote on the fishing and seafoods of the ancient Māori people. He al ...

. On Hamilton's sudden death in 1913, she took charge of the entomological collections, and her primary task until 1915 was the reorganising, remounting and cataloguing the

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 ...

, which remained her main research focus as her career progressed. She collected all over the North Island, including

Kapiti Island Kapiti Island () is an island about off the west coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand. It is long, running southwest/northeast, and roughly wide, being more or less rectangular in shape, and has an area of . Its name has been used s ...

Mt Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is the second highest point in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. The mountain has a secon ...

, and the

Rimutaka Range The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017) is the southernmost range of a mountain chain in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The chain continues north into the Tararua, then Ruahine Ranges, running parallel with the east co ...

, as well as much further afield in Whangamarino and Whangarei. She was actively involved in educating the public about insects and entomology, through speaking with school children on class visits and public lectures to adults. In 1915 she organised for collection equipment and information to be given to school children, though was disappointed that this did not result in many donations to the collection. A revised attempt in 1918 resulted in a group of boys interested in learning about moths and butterflies, with weekly meetings for them to pin and catalogue their finds. In 1921, she was elected a Fellow of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of London ...

, with her position listed as Assistant Entomologist. In 1939, she was honoured by G.P. Whitley and W.J. Phillips who named a newly discovered fish after her "in recognition of generous help accorded one of us in identifying insects from the stomachs of fish". Unfortunately, this subsequently turned out to be a junior synonym of ''Galaxias brevipinnis''. She remained at the museum until 1931, when the government reduced staffing levels to save money during the depression. Her life after this is unknown, until 1957 when she left Wellington for

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignt ...

, Devon, England, where she died in 1971, aged 90. She never married.

Awards and honours

In 2017, she was selected as one of the Royal Society of New Zealand's "

150 women in 150 words Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.

Selected publications

* (1925)."Lepidoptera collected at York Bay, Wellington, in 1924." ''New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology.'' 8(1): 32–34. * Philpott, A.; Castle, A.; Andersen, J.C. (1925)."Australian Lepidoptera in New Zealand." ''New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology.'' 7(6): 364–367.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle, Amy 1880 births 1971 deaths New Zealand curators New Zealand entomologists 20th-century New Zealand women scientists Women entomologists People from Reefton New Zealand women curators New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century New Zealand zoologists