Claude Morley (22 June 1874 – 13 November 1951) was an English

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

who specialised in Hymenoptera and Diptera. He has been described by

Peter Marren Peter Marren (born 1950) is a British writer, journalist, and naturalist. He has written over 20 books about British nature, including ''Chasing the Ghost: My Search for all the Wild Flowers of Britain'' (2018), an account of a year-long quest ...

as "Suffolk's best-known entomologist". Morley was born at Astley Bank in Blackheath in 1874 and educated at

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town A market town is a Human settlement, settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular marketplace, market; this d ...

before attending King's School,

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and later

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orp ...

. After living on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

in his father's house at

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes ...

, he moved in 1892 to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

where he worked with

John Ellor Taylor John Ellor Taylor (1837, Levenshulme, England–1895, Ipswich, England) was an English popular science writer, journalist and museum curator. Early life The eldest son of William Taylor (died 1864), foreman in a Lancashire cotton-factory, and h ...

, then Curator of the

Ipswich Museum Ipswich Museum is a registered museum of culture, history and natural heritage located on High Street in Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk. It was historically the leading regional museum in Suffolk, housing collections drawn from both the f ...

. He married in 1904, living at

Monk Soham Monk Soham is a village in Suffolk, eastern England, four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Debenham and six miles (10 km) northwest of Framlingham. The neighbouring villages are Bedfield, Ashfield cum Thorpe, Kenton and Bedingfield. The n ...

until his death in 1951. He had no radio, telephone, or electricity in his house. E.A. Elliott was a close friend, as was

Arthur Chitty Arthur John Chitty (27 May 1859 – 6 January 1908) was an English people, English first-class cricketer and barrister. The son of Joseph William Chitty, he was born in May 1859 at Marylebone. He was educated at Eton College, before going up to ...

. Morley worked first on

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

, then Hemiptera and then Ichneumonidae. His magnum opus was the five volume Ichneumons of Great Britain (1903–1914). Morley's collection of mainly Suffolk material covering the period 1898–1951 is in Ipswich Museum. It occupies around 260 drawers. There are Cerambycids bearing his name in the Kauffmann collection at Manchester. Morley was a Fellow of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomology, entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Socie ...

1896. In 1929 he was one of the founding members of the Suffolk Naturalists' Society, and an editor of ''Transactions of the Suffolk Naturalists' Trust'', the society's journal. Among pre-1950 British entomologists, Morley showed a relative interest in Irish fauna. He also wrote poetry under the pseudonym of Maude Clorley.

Works

Hemiptera

Hymenoptera

* *On the Ichneumonidous Group Tryphonides schizodonti with descriptions of new species (1905) *A description of the superior wing of the Hymenoptera, with a view to giving a simpler and more certain nomenclature to the alary system of Jurine.''Trans. Ent. Soc. London'', 1909: 439–447, figs. (1909) *''Catalogue of British Hymenoptera of the family Chalcididae'', 74pp. Publisher? (1910). *''A revision of the Ichneumonidae based on the coll. in the British Museum'' Publisher? (1912-1914). *(1908-1911)'' Ichneumonologia Britannica'' (4 Volumes) London *On in some South African Ichneumonidae the collection of the South African Museum.''Annals of the South African Museum'',17:191-229. (1917) *

Fauna of British India Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''biota''. Zoolo ...

Hymenoptera Vol. 3. Ichneumones Deltoidei (1913) *The Percy Sladen trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean (Seychelles) in 1905. 12.Ichneumonidae (1912)

Coleoptera

* Supplement, 1915. The work listed 1783 species and the supplement 237. Morley also wrote many articles in the Entomologist's monthly magazine, ''Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation'', and other periodicals, and he was on the editorial staff of ''The Entomologist'' from 1909.

References

*Anonym 1951: orley, C.- Entomologist's Monthly Magazine (4) 87 327 *Nash,D. A little-known important recorder of Suffolk insects, Ernest Arthur Elliott (1850-1936)’ ''White Admiral, Newsletter of the Suffolk Naturalists’ Soc''., 65, 2006, pp. 23–30

External links

Claude Morley
in

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