Reginald Ernest Balch (December 29, 1894 – 1994) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

Biography

He was born in

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of the Rev. Alfred Ernest Balch and Sarah Hawkes. He was educated at

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...

and

Kingswood School (''In The Right Way Quickly'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent , religious_affiliation = Methodist , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

. Balch received a university scholarship but waived it to be a farmer. In 1913 he left home in England to become a cowboy in Canada. He arrived in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1913, departing from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and disembarking ten days later at Saint John. He took a train to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

but found little work there. In 1914, he was hired by the Ontario Reformatory and later, with the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, enlisted, serving three years in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with the Canadian

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

. After World War I, his interest in forest biology led him to enroll in the

Ontario Agricultural College The Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto. Since 1964, it has become affili ...

. He graduated in 1923 with a BSA degree. Afterwards, he took a summer job as a fire ranger and assisted an American forest entomologist. This led to his receiving an MS degree at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

New York State College of Forestry The New York State College of Forestry, the first professional school of forestry in North America, opened its doors at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, in the autumn of 1898., It was advocated for by Governor Frank S. Black, but after jus ...

in 1928. In 1930 he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Dominion Entomological Laboratory, a

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

facility on the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

campus in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. He settled in Fredericton with his wife, Martha. His five half-hour radio lectures for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's '' University of the Air'' series in the spring of 1965 were essential in introducing the word "

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

" to the public. He later served as the honorary president for the

Conservation Council of New Brunswick Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

, one of the first modern Canadian

environmental groups An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the Conservation movement, conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or environmental degradation, degradation ...

(established in 1969). He travelled and photographed in Europe, especially Ireland. His photos illustrated a book of

Alden Nowlan Alden Albert Nowlan (; January 25, 1933 – June 27, 1983) was a Canadian poet, novelist, and playwright. History Alden Nowlan was born into rural poverty in Stanley, Nova Scotia, adjacent to Mosherville, and close to the small town of Windsor ...

's poems, ''Early Poems''.

Bibliography

* ''Control of Forest Insects'' - R E Balch, ''Annual Review of Entomology'', January 1958, Vol. 3, Pages 449–468,

* ''The spruce budworm in New Brunswick'' - R. E. Balch, (Ottawa : Science Service, Forest Biology Division, Canada Department of Agriculture, 1958) Publication (Canada. Dept. of Agriculture); 1035 * ''Dieback of Birch in Canada'' - R. E. Balch, unpublished typescript, British Columbia Ministry of Forests Library, call number 634.90971 U-319 * ''The Ecological Viewpoint'' - R.E. Balch (Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1965) * ''A Mind's Eye'' - R. E. Balch (Fredericton:

Goose Lane Editions Goose Lane Editions is a Canadian book publishing company founded in 1954 in Fredericton, New Brunswick as Fiddlehead Poetry Books by Fred Cogswell and a group of students and faculty from the University of New Brunswick associated with ''The Fid ...

, 1985) * ''Celebrations of Nature'' - edited by Harold Hatheway (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 1991)

Sources

* https://web.archive.org/web/20060514234152/http://www.lib.unb.ca/archives/balch.html * ''Introduction to A Mind's Eye'' by Astrid Brunner

External links

R. E. Balch fonds at University of New Brunswick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balch, Reg 1894 births 1994 deaths Canadian military personnel of World War I British emigrants to Canada Canadian photographers Canadian entomologists People educated at Kingswood School, Bath People from Sevenoaks Artists from New Brunswick People from Fredericton State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry alumni People educated at Bedford School 20th-century Canadian zoologists