Bertram Maurice Hobby (23 October 1905 – 19 July 1983) was an English entomologist who worked in

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and served as an editor of the ''

Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' is a British entomological journal, founded by a staff of five editors – T. Blackburn, H. G. Knaggs, M.D., R. McLachlan, F.L.S., E. C. Rye and H. T. Stainton – and first published in 1864. The journal ...

''. He was a specialist on predatory insects, especially in the fly families,

Asilidae The Asilidae are the robber fly family, also called assassin flies. They are powerfully built, bristly flies with a short, stout proboscis enclosing the sharp, sucking Insect mouthparts#Hypopharynx, hypopharynx. The name "robber flies" reflects t ...

and the

Empididae __NOTOC__ Empididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide in all the biogeographic realms but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empid ...

Birth and education

Hobby was born in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

where he became interested in the insects in the New Forest as a schoolboy. He studied zoology at Oxford University graduating in 1929.

Career

Following graduation, he worked as a research fellow, obtaining a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1934 working under

Edward Bagnall Poulton Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS HFRSE FLS (27 January 1856 – 20 November 1943) was a British evolutionary biologist, a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its ...

. He then joined the entomology department at Oxford University, retiring in 1972. He took part in the Oxford expedition to Sarawak in 1932, and was a Fellow of Wolfson College from 1965 to 1973.

Private life

He married Marcia Prestidge in 1937, with whom he worked on the editorial board of the ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine''. He served as editor in chief from 1964 to 1981. His hobbies included playing chess, and he was also a keen swimmer and water polo player, who served as an examiner for the Royal Life-Saving Society. He was a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

under the

United Grand Lodge of England The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England, Wales, and the Commonwealth of Nations. Claiming descent from the Masonic Grand Lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose & Gridiron ...

. He was a member of both the Churchill Lodge No 478, and the

Apollo University Lodge Apollo University Lodge No 357 is a Masonic Lodge based at the University of Oxford aimed at past and present members of the university. It was consecrated in 1819, and its members have met continuously since then. University of Oxford Membersh ...

No 357 (both in Oxford), and went on to serve in the Provincial Grand Lodge of Oxfordshire, first as Provincial Grand Secretary, and then from 1971 as Deputy

Provincial Grand Master Provincial Grand Master (abbreviated PGM or PrGM), sometimes called District Grand Master or Metropolitan Grand Master, is a fraternal office held by the head of a Provincial Grand Lodge, who is directly appointed by the organisation's Grand Maste ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobby, Bertram Maurice Scientists from Southampton English entomologists Alumni of the University of Oxford 1905 births 1983 deaths 20th-century English zoologists