Seth Lister Mosley FES (1848–1929) was an English naturalist, ornithologist and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

who lived in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. Born into a working-class family, he had little in the way of formal education.

Career

He initially worked as a painter-decorator before becoming an independent professional naturalist in 1877, going on to become one of the most prominent British naturalists in the late nineteenth century. He was an early advocate for bird

conservation 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 managem ...

and wrote publicly against the shooting of birds for museum displays. He was one of Britain's first independent

museologists Museology or museum studies is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and education. Terminology The w ...

and visited a substantial number of museums across the country (including the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, observing their natural history collections, and providing educational resources. He was also a lecturer for the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

. He ran several private museums in Huddersfield before being appointed curator of the collections at Huddersfield Technical College. He was appointed the Soppitt Curator by the

Yorkshire Naturalists' Union The Yorkshire Naturalists' Union is an association of amateur and professional naturalists covering a wide range of aspects of natural history. It is one of United Kingdom's oldest extant wildlife organisations and oldest natural history federat ...

following the death of Henry Thomas Soppitt in 1899. and became the first curator at Huddersfield's

Tolson Museum The Tolson Memorial Museum, also known as Tolson Museum, is housed in Ravensknowle Hall, a Victorian mansion in Ravensknowle Park on Wakefield Road in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The museum was given to the town by Legh Tolson in m ...

in 1922.

Publications

He was also the editor and primary contributor of several prominent national popular science publications including ''The Naturalist's Journal'' and the''Young Naturalist''.

Legacy

In 2022, a book was published on entitled ''Nature’s Missionary: Seth Lister Mosley – Naturalist, Museum Curator And Mystic''. Written by the Huddersfield historian Alan Brooke, the book marked the first major academic work on Seth Lister Mosley. A

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

based on his life, entitled ''The Boy who Dreamt a Museum'', was also published.

References

{{Authority control People from Huddersfield British ornithologists English ornithologists British ornithological writers Botanical illustrators 1847 births 1929 deaths