Mary De la Beche "Minnie" Nicholl

FES Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...

(

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Dillwyn; 25 June 1839 - 30 October 1922) was a

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

and mountaineer.

Family

Nicholl was born in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

in 1839. She was the daughter of

Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn (19 May 1814 – 19 June 1892) was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who served as MP for Swansea for 37 years. Early life Dillwyn was born in Swansea, Wales, the fourth of six children of Lewis Weston Dillwy ...

and Elizabeth (née De la Beche). She had an older brother Henry (b. 1843) who became a barrister. and two younger sisters,

Amy Dillwyn Elizabeth Amy Dillwyn (16 May 1845 – 13 December 1935) was a Welsh novelist, businesswoman, and social benefactor. She was one of the first female industrialists in Britain. Born in Sketty, Swansea, Dillwyn was a member of a prominent family ...

(b.1845) a novelist and industrialist, and Sarah, known as Essie (b. 1852) who became an actress after a divorce. Her uncle was John Dillwyn-Llewelyn of

Penllergare Penllergare is a country park in Wales. It was the estate of John Dillwyn Llewelyn adjacent to what is now the village of Penllergaer, Swansea. Although the names are similar, the village of Penllergaer grew up as a separate entity from the Pen ...

who, along with his wife, Emma Thomasina Talbot, his sister (Mary's aunt)

Mary Dillwyn Mary Dillwyn (1816–1906) is considered to be the earliest female photographer in Wales, who took photographs of flowers, animals, family and friends in the 1840s and 1850s. She provided a raw insight to the domestic lives of women and childr ...

and his daughter (Mary's cousin) Theresa Story Maskelyne (née Dillwyn-Llewellyn) were pioneers of early photography. Her paternal grandfather was the naturalist

Lewis Weston Dillwyn Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS (21 August 1778 – 31 August 1855) was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Whig Member of Parliament (MP). Biography He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn (1743–1824) and ...

and her maternal grandfather was geologist Sir

Henry De La Beche Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche KCB, FRS (10 February 179613 April 1855) was an English geologist and palaeontologist, the first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, who helped pioneer early geological survey methods. He was the f ...

. The Dillwyn family were originally Quakers and her great-grandfather was

William Dillwyn William Dillwyn (1743, Philadelphia – 28 September 1824) was a British American-born Quaker of Welsh descent, active in the abolitionist movement in colonial America and after 1774, Great Britain. He was one of the twelve committee members of ...

, the anti-slavery campaigner from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who returned to campaign in Britain. She married John Cole Nicholl on Swansea in 1860, and had six children. She died in

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

, Wales, in 1922.

Lepidoptery

Nicholl was best known for her work on butterflies. Nicholl published a number of papers on her research on butterflies between 1897 and 1904, including "Bulgarian Butterflies" in ''

The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation ''The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed entomological journal. Its emphasis is British and European Lepidoptera, but material on other insect orders is also published regularly. It was established by ...

'' (1899) and "Butterflies of the Lebanon" was published in '' The Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London'' (1902). A book about the life of Mary De la Beche Nicholl was published in 1979 titled: ''Grandmother Extraordinary''.

References

1839 births 1922 deaths 19th-century British women scientists Welsh zoologists 19th-century British zoologists British entomologists Women entomologists 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century British women scientists People from Swansea Dillwyn family {{UK-entomologist-stub