Henry Doubleday (1 July 1808 – 29 June 1875) was an English

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. There is a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

to him at the corner of High Street and Buttercross Lane, Epping, at the site of his father's grocer shop. He wrote a catalogue of British butterflies and moths, and named a number of new species of moth, including the

pigmy footman ''Manulea pygmaeola'', the pigmy footman, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in the western half of the Palearctic realm, east to Altai Mountains, Altai. The wingspan is 24–28 mm. There is one generation per year with adults on ...

, Ashworth's rustic and marsh oblique-barred. His moth collection remains intact at the

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

Life

Henry Doubleday was born in 1808, and was the eldest son of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

and grocer Benjamin Doubleday and his wife Mary of Epping, Essex. He and his brother

Edward Doubleday Edward Doubleday (9 October 1810 – 14 December 1849) was an English entomologist primarily interested in Lepidoptera. He is best known for ''The Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera: Comprising Their Generic Characters, a Notice of Their Habits and ...

spent their childhood collecting natural history specimens in

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...

. He lived at the same time as his cousin Henry Doubleday (1810-1902) the scientist and

horticulturist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

. Doubleday took over the management of the family grocery shop in Epping after his father's death, which reduced the number of collecting trips he was able to make. Doubleday was the author of the first catalogue of British butterflies and moths, ''Synonymic List of the British Lepidoptera'' (1847–1850). He had earlier been interested in birds, and pubilshed ''Nomenclature of British Birds'' in 1836. Doubleday's contributions include the recognition, later confirmed by Darwin, of the

oxlip ''Primula elatior'', the oxlip (or true oxlip), is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to nutrient-poor and calcium-rich damp woods and meadows throughout Europe, with northern borders in Denmark and southern parts o ...

as distinct from the primrose and the cowslip. He also invented a technique called sugaring for attracting moths. Doubleday named a number of new species of

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s, including the pigmy footman, Ashworth's rustic and marsh oblique-barred. His moth collection remains intact at the Natural History Museum. Doubleday died on 29 June 1875, some time after having suffered a breakdown brought on by the stress of the collapse of his business. There is a

to Doubleday at the corner of High Street and Buttercross Lane, Epping.

References

External links

*Full text of Andrew Murray's ''Catalogue of the Doubleday Collection of Lepidoptera'
Part I. British Lepidoptera
an
Part II. European Lepidoptera''A Synonymic List of All the British Butterflies and Moths''
*Dunning, J.W. (March 1877
"Biographical Notice"
''The Entomologist''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Doubleday, Henry 1808 births 1875 deaths 19th-century British biologists 19th-century English people English lepidopterists English ornithologists English naturalists English Quakers Scientists from Epping