Arthur William Bacot (28 April 1866 – 12 April 1922) was an

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 ...

at the

Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, ...

Major Greenwood Major Greenwood FRS (9 August 1880 – 5 October 1949) was a British epidemiologist and statistician. Biography Major Greenwood junior was born in Shoreditch in London's East End, the only child of Major Greenwood, a physician in general pra ...

and Joseph Arthur Arkwright
"The Life and Scientific Work of Arthur William Bacot".
''Journal of Hygiene'' Vol. 23 No. 3 March 1924. Retrieved 8 June 2015.

Early life

Bacot was born in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, the third son and fourth child of Edmund Alexander Bacot and his wife Harriet. He was a poor attender at school which he left at the age of sixteen in 1882."A Hundred Years of Natural History Studies"
''New Scientist'' 5 June 1958. Retrieved 8 June 2015. He then became an office worker in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. He appears to have had no formal training in science apart from being a member of the

London Natural History Society The London Natural History Society (or LNHS as it is commonly known) is a local natural history society within the UK concerned with recording the wildlife of London, covering a circular area covering a 20-mile radius from St. Paul's Cathedral. T ...

Career

He had been a keen butterfly collector and produced over fifty papers from 1893 and 1909 on British

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

. In 1908 he developed an interest in morphological and genetic research. He developed breeding experiments with the

geometrid The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek (derivative form of or "the earth"), and "measure" in referen ...

moth '' Acidalia virginaria'' (binomial name ''Scopula modicaria''). As a result of this he gave details in a presentation to the

London Hospital Medical School Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, commonly known as Barts or BL, is a medical school, medical and dental school in London, England. The school is part of Queen Mary University of London, a constituent college of the federal ...

. Professor Greenwood of the Advisory Committee for Plague Investigation was looking for someone to study the breeding habits of the

rat flea A rat flea is a parasite of rats. There are at least four species: * Oriental rat flea (''Xenopsylla cheopis''), also known as the tropical rat flea, the primary vector for bubonic plague * Northern rat flea (''Nosopsyllus fasciatus''). According ...

and how it passes on the plague virus."Arthur William Bacot, F.E.S"
''British Medical Journal''. 1922 Apr 22; 1(3199): 662–663. Retrieved 8 June 2015. Bacot was asked to do the research in his spare time with a small fee and all expenses paid. The program was a success and as a result Bacot joined the Lister Institute. In 1914 during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he went to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

British West Africa British West Africa was the collective name for British settlements in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was ...

to study Yellow Fever. By autumn 1917 there was concern about the reduced efficiency of the British Expeditionary Force in France caused by

trench fever Trench fever (also known as "five-day fever", "quintan fever" (), and "urban trench fever") is a moderately serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium '' Bartonella quintana'' and transmitted by body lice. From 1915 to 1918 between one-f ...

. In 1917 he went together with Joseph Arkwright to investigate the cause and prevention of this incapacitating epidemic. He discovered the relationships of

lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

with both

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

and trench fever. Bacot caught the latter disease himself whilst in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Death

In 1922 he went to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

with Arkwright at the request of the Egyptian Government to study typhus. Both caught the disease from lice. Arkwright survived after a long illness; Bacot died aged 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacot, Arthur William 1866 births 1922 deaths 19th-century British biologists 20th-century British biologists British pathologists British microbiologists British entomologists