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Harry Forbes Witherby,
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
, FZS, MBOU (7 October 1873 – 11 December 1943) was a noted
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
, author, publisher and founding editor (in 1907) of the magazine ''British Birds''.


Personal life

Harry was the second surviving son of Henry Forbes Witherby (1836–1907) of Holmehurst,
Burley, Hants Burley is a village and civil parish in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. It has ancient origins and is now somewhat tourist-orientated. The village Burley is located towards the western edge of the New Forest, south-east of the town of Rin ...
, the owner of the legal and maritime stationer Witherby and Co., employing 169 men who retired from the family business in 1899 to focus on his interests in painting and ornithology, leaving it to be run by his sons. After leaving school Witherby entered his old family publishing firm of Witherby, from which he retired in 1936, but resumed work again after the outbreak of the second world war. The family firm of H F and G Witherby, originally printers, began to publish
bird books The literature relating to birding is vast; however, certain books or series are regarded by the birding community as key milestones, setting standards of quality and influencing the development of birding literature, or birding itself. These wor ...
early in the 20th century. From an early age Witherby devoted himself to the study of ornithology, travelling extensively, including visits to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, the
Kola Peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...
, and the
White Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
. He described the latter in his book ''Bird Hunting on the White Nile'' (1902). He married Lilian Gillson in 1904. Lilian joined him on his travels and even learnt to skin birds on their honeymoon. They had two sons and three daughters.


Career

He started one of the world's first two
bird ringing Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...
schemes in 1909 (they merged in the late 1930s), transferring responsibility, in 1937, to the
British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginnings In 1931 Max Nicholson wrote: In the United State ...
(BTO), who continue to run it. Witherby was Hon Secretary and Treasurer (1904–14), and Chairman (1924–27) of the
British Ornithologists' Club The British Ornithologists' Club (BOC) aims to promote discussion between members and others interested in ornithology, and to facilitate the dissemination of scientific information concerned with ornithology. The BOC has a special interest in avi ...
(1924–1927) and President of the Council of the
British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...
(BOU) (1933–1938). In 1933 he was one of eleven people, involved in the appeal that led to the foundation of the
British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginnings In 1931 Max Nicholson wrote: In the United State ...
(BTO), an organisation for the study of
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
s in the British Isles., becoming a founding member and early vice-chairman. The BTO survived through his financial generosity, not least in donating the proceeds of the sale of his extensive collection of stuffed birds to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
- this is now at the Natural History Museum, Tring. Witherby's crowning glory was '' The Handbook of British Birds'' (1938–1941). Spanning five volumes, it was reprinted a number of times, the later editions having a few pages devoted to corrections and additions to previous editions, but few of these are of great significance and the main text was left untouched. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the
American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...
in 1928 and was awarded the
Godman-Salvin Medal The Godman-Salvin Medal is a medal of the British Ornithologists' Union awarded "to an individual as a signal honour for distinguished ornithological work." It was instituted in 1919 in the memory of Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin. M ...
by the BOU in 1937. Witherby's lark (''Alaemon hamertoni'') was named for him, in 1905, but is now more commonly known as the
lesser hoopoe-lark The lesser hoopoe-lark (''Alaemon hamertoni'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is endemic to Somalia where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is d ...
. Two other bird sub-species have been named after him: ''Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi'' (
common reed bunting The common reed bunting (''Emberiza schoeniclus'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old German ''Embritz'', a ...
) and ''Erithacus rubecula witherbyi'' (
European robin The European robin (''Erithacus rubecula''), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain & Ireland, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. About in len ...
). During
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 ...
he was a lieutenant in the
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original R ...
. He was
mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
and was awarded the Military MBE for his service as an intelligence officer in Dunkirk.London Gazette 8th supplement, 23 May 1919


Notes


References

* * Mullens and Swann - ''A Bibliography of British Ornithology'' (1917)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Witherby, Henry 1873 births 1943 deaths British ornithologists Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Members of British Ornithologists' Union British Trust for Ornithology people Members of the Order of the British Empire