David Armitage Bannerman OBE, MA, SD (Cantab), Hon. LL.D. (Glasgow),

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

, FZS (27 November 1886 – 6 April 1979) was a British

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. From 1919 to 1952 he was Curator of the British Museum of Natural History (now called the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

Biography

He was the son of David Alexander Bannerman. He was educated at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 and ...

, before going to university. After graduating from

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

in 1909, Bannerman travelled extensively in Africa, the West Indies, South America and the Atlantic Islands.Obituary, RSPB ''Birds'' magazine, Vol 7 No 7, November–December 1979, pp8-9 Rejected on health grounds by the military, Bannerman served as a stretcher-bearer with the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

for four years in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during

World War I 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 ...

, earning the

Mons Star The 1914 Star, colloquially known as the Mons Star, is a British World War I campaign medal for service in France or Belgium between 5 August and 22 November 1914. Institution The 1914 Star was authorised under Special Army Order no. 350 in Nov ...

. He was then employed, part-time, at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

,Savory until his retirement in 1951, having twice declined the directorship of 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 ...

. He was chairman of the

British Ornithologists' Club The British Ornithologists' Club (BOC) aims to promote discussion between members and others interested in ornithology, and to facilitate the dissemination of scientific information concerned with ornithology. The BOC has a special interest in avi ...

from 1932 to 1935, having edited their

Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

from 1914–1915 and was Vice President of the British Ornithologists Union and the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

. He married twice: in 1911 he married Muriel Morgan(d.1945) and much later in life, in 1952, he married Winifred Mary Jane Holland. From 1952 to 1979 he farmed in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

. He also wrote for ''

Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

''.

Bibliography

*''The Birds of Tropical West Africa'' (illustrated by

George Edward Lodge George Edward Lodge FZS, (3 December 1860 – 5 February 1954)Savory ''op. cit.'' was a British illustrator of birds and an authority on falconry. Early life George Edward Lodge was born at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. His father, Samuel Lodg ...

; 8 vols) 1930-1951 *''The Birds of West and Equatorial Africa'' (2 vols) 1953 *''Larger Birds of West Africa'', Penguin (London) 1958 *''Birds of Cyprus'' (with W. Mary Bannerman), Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1958 *'' The Birds of the British Isles'' (illustrated by Lodge) Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh (12 vols) 1953-1963 **Vol. 1: ''Corvidae, Sturnidae, Oriolidae, Fringillidae'', 1953 **Vol. 2: ''Alaudidae, Certhidae, Paridae, Vireonidae etc'', 1953 **Vol. 3: ''Sylviidae, Troglodytidae, Turdidae, Cinclidae, Prunellidae, Hirundinidae'', 1954 **Vol. 4: ''Apodidae, Coraciidae, Caprimulgidae, Alcedinidae, Meropidae, Picidae, Upupidae, Cuculidae, Strigidae'', 1955 **Vol. 5: ''Birds of Prey'', 1956 **Vol. 6: ''Ciconiidae, Ardeidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae (Part)'', 1957 **Vol. 7: ''Anatidae (Conclusion)'', 1958 **Vol. 8: ''Phalacrocoracidae, Diomedeidae, Sulidae, Podicipedidae, Fregatidae, Gaviidae, Procellariidae, Columbidae, Pteroclididae'', 1959 **Vol. 9: ''Scolopacidae (Part)'', 1961 **Vol. 10: ''Scolopacidae (Conclusion), Charadriidae, Recurvirostridae, Haematopodidae'', 1961 **Vol. 11: ''Glareolidae, Otdidae, Burhinidae, Gruidae, Laridae'', 1962 **Vol. 12: ''Stercorariidae, Alcidae, Rallidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae'', 1963 *''The Birds of the Atlantic Islands'' (with W. Mary Bannerman, illustrated by D. M. Reid-Henry) Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh (4 vols) 1963-1968 **Vol. 1: ''A History of the Birds of the Canary Islands and the Salvages'', 1963 **Vol. 2: ''A History of the Birds of Madeira, the Desertas, and Porto Santo Islands'', 1965 **Vol. 3: ''A History of the Birds of the Azores'', 1966 **Vol. 4: ''A History of the Birds of the Cape Verde Islands'', 1968 *''Handbook of the Birds of Cyprus and Migrants of the Middle East'' (with W. Mary Bannerman) Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh 1971 *''Birds of the Maltese Archipelago'' (with Joseph A. Vella-Gaffiero) Museums Department, Valletta 1976 *''The Birds of the Balearics (with W. Mary Bannerman, illustrated by Donald Watson) Croom Helm/Tanager Books 1983 *
The Canary Islands : their history, natural history and scenery
' Gurney and Jackson 1922

Contributions

*''George Lodge - Artist Naturalist'' John Savory (Ed.),

Croom Helm Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, 1986 **The chapter ''Lodge the Man, a Biography''

Notable articles

* Exhibition and description of a new subspecies of oystercatcher (''Haematopus niger meade-waldoi'') from the Canary Islands. '' Bull. B. O. C.'' 31: 33–34. (1913) * A probable sight record of a Canarian black oystercatcher. ''Ibis'' 111: 257. (1969)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bannerman, David Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge British ornithologists British ornithological writers Employees of the Natural History Museum, London Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Zoological Society of London 1886 births 1979 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Officers of the Order of the British Empire Red Cross personnel Royal Society for the Protection of Birds people 20th-century British zoologists