Sir John Claud Fortescue Fryer KBE FRS FRSE (13 August 1886 – 22 November 1948) was an English entomologist. He was president of the

Royal Entomological Society 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 Londo ...

from 1938 to 1939 and was a

fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

Life

He was born at The Priory in

Chatteris Chatteris is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency. The parish of C ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, the son of Herbert Fortescue Fryer, a farmer and amateur entomologist, and his wife Margaret Katherine Terry. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

. Like his father and his uncle, the naturalist Alfred Fryer, his main interest was in natural history. In 1908 and 1909 he spent time in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

and Aldabra Islands on a Percy Sladen Trust expedition to study the fauna and

physiography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...

. In 1914 he was appointed the first entomologist at the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and in 1920 was appointed director of the Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden. He was awarded an OBE in 1929. He became secretary of the

Agricultural Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor ...

in 1944. He was knighted KBE in 1946 and elected a

in March 1948. His application citation read: " ryeris an entomologist, his early researches on the genetics of mimetic polymorphism in Papilio polytes are classic. He is distinguished for his scientific public service to Agriculture. As the first entomologist employed by the Board of Agriculture, and later as Director of the Board's Plant Pathology Laboratory he established the advisory and quarantine services in this country on such sound scientific lines that they enabled the great development of agriculture during the war to take place. During the war as first secretary to the Agricultural Improvement Council he rendered important service to scientific agriculture, and now as Secretary to the Agricultural Research Council is playing a large part in post-war development in this field." In March 1948 he was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh His proposers were Sir

William Wright Smith Sir William Wright Smith FRS FRSE FLS VMH LLD (2 February 1875 Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire – 15 December 1956) was a Scottish botanist and horticulturalist. Life He was born at Parkend farm near Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire, the son of James ...

, Alan William Greenwood, James Ritchie, and

John Russell Greig John McDougal Russell Greig CBE FRSE MRCVS (September 1889-1 May 1963) was a Scottish veterinarian who was Director of the Moredun Research Institute from 1930 to 1954. He is noted for the development of several important animal vaccines: Enzo ...

. He died suddenly from pneumonia in London in November 1948.

Family

He married Constance Joan Denny-Cooke in 1919. They had a daughter Margret Katherine Fryer in 1920 and son John Denny Fryer in 1922.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fryer, John Claud Fortescue 1886 births 1948 deaths People from Chatteris People educated at Rugby School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British entomologists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British zoologists