Edward Saunders, FRS (22 March 1848 – 6 February 1910) was an English

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 ...

, who specialised in

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

and

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

Life

Saunders was born at East Hill,

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, on 22 March 1848, the youngest of seven children of

William Wilson Saunders William Wilson Saunders FRS (4 June 1809 – 13 September 1879) was a British insurance broker, entomologist and botanist. Saunders was an underwriter at Lloyd's of London. He served as president of the Entomological Society from 1841 to 18 ...

(known for sponsoring the collecting expeditions of

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

), who was a treasurer for the Linnean Society. Schooled at Reigate, he was interested in natural history like his siblings. He joined the business of his father at

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...

, studying entomology in his spare time. His earliest publication was ''Coleoptera at Lowestoft'' in the first volume of the ''Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine'' when he was sixteen years old. He would later become an editor of the Magazine. His ''Catalogus Buprestidarum'' of 1871 was "''a work whose importance was immediately recognised, and which has ever since remained a classic. In order to render the synonymies ... as reliable as possible, he undertook the only foreign tour of his life, visiting in succession all the chief museums of Europe and examining personally the

types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Typ ...

''". Saunders was a Fellow of the Entomological Society, the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(FRS, June 1902). Saunders lived at Reigate, Wandsworth, and Bromley, and settled in Woking in 1887. He married Mary Agnes Brown in 1872 and eight of their twelve children lived beyond him. He died at Bognor on 6 February 1910, and was buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

Family

In 1872, Saunders married Mary Agnes Brown; they had eight sons and four daughters.

Works

Saunders published, with scientific papers in entomological journals: *1871 ''Catalogus Buprestidarum synonymicus et systematicus'' Janson, London. *1892
The Hemiptera Heteroptera of the British Islands
'London. *1896,
The Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British Isles
' London.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Edward Saunders titles at BHL
* * * English entomologists English coleopterists 1848 births 1910 deaths Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Hymenopterists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London {{UK-entomologist-stub