William Syer Bristowe (1 September 1901 – 11 September 1979), who wrote under the name W. S. Bristowe, was an English naturalist, a prolific and popular scientific writer and authority on

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s. He was educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

and

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and in 1921 went on a Cambridge University expedition to

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger ...

led by James Mann Wordie. Two years later he went on another Cambridge University expedition, this time to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Late in his life he also had an unexpected but important role in discovering the true story of Anna Leonowens, the 19th century woman whose memoirs inspired a number of dramatic and fictional works, most notably the musical ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

''. Leonowens presented her own account as factual and it was accepted in the west as such, despite being strongly disputed in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. In the 1970s, when Bristowe, a regular visitor to the far east in search of spiders, was researching a biography of Leonowen's son, Louis T. Leonowens, he discovered and published evidence that significant parts of the tale were in fact fictional.

Bibliography

(incomplete) * ''Comity of Spiders'' (two volumes published in 1939 and 1941) *''A Book of Spiders''. King Penguin No. 35, W. S. Bristowe, King Penguin, 1947 *''World of Spiders'', W. S. Bristowe, Collins New Naturalist, Nov 1958, *''A Book of Islands'', W. S. Bristowe, G. Bell & Sons London, 1969 *''Louis and the King of Siam'', W. S. Bristowe, Chatto & Windus, 1976,

References

1901 births 1979 deaths British arachnologists Bristowe, William Syer English naturalists Bristowe, William Syer People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire New Naturalist writers 20th-century British zoologists Alumni of the University of Cambridge 20th-century naturalists {{UK-entomologist-stub