Colonel Charles Swinhoe (27 August 1838, in CalcuttaAlthough many published sources give 1836, the

India Office Records The India Office Records are a very large collection of documents relating to the administration of India from 1600 to 1947, the period spanning Company and British rule in India. The archive is held in London by the British Library and is public ...

note it as 1838 (), the other year being that of his brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

. – 2 December 1923) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

naturalist and

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

, who served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He was one of the eight founders of the

Bombay Natural History Society The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants and publ ...

and a brother of the famous naturalist Robert Swinhoe. Swinhoe was commissioned

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

in the 56th Regiment of Foot without purchase in 1855, serving in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

and reaching India after the

1857 Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

. He exchanged into a lieutenancy in the

15th Foot 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious nu ...

without purchase in 1858 and returned to the 56th Foot in 1859, transferring to the Bombay Staff Corps later the same year. He was at

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

with Lord Roberts in 1880, and collected 341 birds there and on the march back to India. These were described in ''The Ibis'' (1882: 95-126). He was promoted

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

in 1881 and

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in 1885. Swinhoe was a keen ''shikari'' and had shot 50-60 tigers. He was also a member of the British Ornithologists' Union and contributed papers to ''

The Ibis ''Ibis'' (formerly ''The Ibis''), subtitled ''the International Journal of Avian Science'', is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the British Ornithologists' Union. It was established in 1859. Topics covered include ecology, conservation, be ...

'' on the birds of southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and central India, and donated 300 bird skins from each country to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. While at Mhow he collaborated with Lieutenant Henry Edwin Barnes on the birds of central India. (''Ibis'' 1885: 62–69, 124–138) He collected insects, chiefly Lepidoptera from Bombay, Poona, Mhow and Karachi districts. He had one of the largest collections of Indian Lepidoptera at the time (40,000 specimens of 7,000 species and 400 new species described by him), and completed the '' Lepidoptera Indica'' series after the death of Frederic Moore in 1907. He also published in the ''

Annals and Magazine of Natural History The ''Journal of Natural History'' is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis focusing on entomology and zoology. The journal was established in 1841 under the name ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' (''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'') an ...

''. He also wrote ''A Revision of the Genera of the Family Liparidae'' which covered 1130 entries and published a ''Catalogue of the Moths of India'' (Calcutta, 1887–89) with Everard Charles Cotes. After retirement he settled at Oxford and received an honorary M.A. for his work in entomology. The Entomological Society of France made him an honorary member. His Lepidoptera collection was purchased by

James John Joicey James John Joicey FES (28 December 1870 – 10 March 1932) was an English amateur entomologist, who assembled an extensive collection of Lepidoptera in his private research museum, called the Hill Museum, in Witley, Surrey. Hi ...

Notes

External links

Manuscript Collection
* ''Lepidoptera Indica''. Scanned volume
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swinhoe, Charles English taxonomists 1838 births 1923 deaths English lepidopterists English ornithologists Naturalists of British India British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Afghan War East Yorkshire Regiment officers 56th Regiment of Foot officers Bombay Staff Corps officers Place of birth missing 19th-century British zoologists 20th-century British zoologists

See also

Notes

External links