Gervase Frederick Mathew (11 February 1842 – 10 February 1928) 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 ...

naval officer 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 ...

. Gervase Mathew was born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

and educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...

. He entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

as Assistant Clerk 12 December 1860, was promoted to Assistant Paymaster 15 February 1865, then to Paymaster 9 February 1879 and retired as Paymaster-in-Chief 11 February 1902. One of his early appointments was to the ''Warrior'', the first British ironclad. He was sometime based in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

then at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and travelled extensively in the central Pacific. He introduced

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854, in Ramsbury – 31 March 1938, at Thornhanger, Marlborough) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern micr ...

to the fauna of the central Pacific islands. Gervase Mathew was a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

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 ...

the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

and 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 ...

. His collection and

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were sold to Godman and are now in the collection of 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 ...

. His works include: * List of Lepidoptera forwarded to Edward Newman ''Entomologist'' 7(127):62-66 (1874) * Life history of Papilio archidamas ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 14(163): 152-153 (1877) * List of Lepidoptera observed in the neighbourhood of

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

Turkey, in 1878. ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 18: 10-13, 29-32, 92- (1881) * Life history of Callidryas drya, Boisd ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 18(214): 219-220 (1882) * Remarks on some Central American species of Pyrrhopyge, Hubn ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 19(217): 18-19 (1882) * An afternoon among the butterflies of

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...

. ''Entomologist'' 19:33-36, 84-97 9 (1885) * Life history of three species of Western Pacific Rhopalocera.''Trans.Ent. Soc. Lond.'' 1885: 357-67, pl. X. (1885) *Descriptions of some new species of Rhopalocera from the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. ''Proc. zool. Soc. Lond''. 1886(3): 343-350, illustrations. * Life-histories of Rhopalocera from the Australian region, ''Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond''. (1888), pp. 137–188 (1888) * Notes on the Lepidoptera from the Mediterranean ''Entomologist, 31: 77-84, 108-116,. 141 (1898) * Descriptions and life-histories of new species of Rhopalocera from the Western Pacific ''Trans. ent. Soc. Lond''. 37(2): 311-315 (1889) * Butterflies attracted by human perspiration ''Entomologist'' 55(708):112-113 (1922)

References

*Anon., 1928 ''Entomologists's Record and Journal of Variation'' Vol. XL. No. 1. 15 January 1928:4

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathew, Gervase Frederick English lepidopterists People educated at Blundell's School Royal Navy officers Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of the Linnean Society of London 1928 deaths 1842 births People educated at Barnstaple Grammar School Royal Navy logistics officers