James Frederick Cockerell (25 November 1847 – 19 December 1897) was an Australian collector of specimens for zoölogists, active in Australia, Indonesia, and Pacific Islands, after 1867. He provided collections for the South Australian Museum after the 1880s, while residing at Mildura, Victoria. An expedition made to 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 ...

in 1878 produced specimens that resulted in the descriptions of the birds made by Edward P. Ramsay between 1879 and 1882. Part of this collection is held at the Australian Museum, and the rest was acquired by six other museums. James Cockerell visited

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1879 to early 1880, and the bird skins that he collected were acquired by 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 ...

. Further collections were made in Aru Islands in 1872, Samoa, Fiji and the Bismarks, 1875–1876. Cockerell was born in Sydney to John T. Cockerell (1828?–1907), also a collector, and Jane Cockerell.''Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792–1981'' He died in hospital in

Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a ...

, aged 30, and was survived by his wife and two children.

References

People from Sydney 1847 births 1897 deaths Zoological collectors 19th-century naturalists Australian naturalists {{Australia-bio-stub