Edward Bagwell Purefoy (6 November 1868 – 19 November 1960) was an Ireland-born British army officer and naturalist. He was the first to discover the life cycle of the large copper butterfly (''

Lycaena dispar The large copper (''Lycaena dispar'') is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. ''L. dispar'' has been commonly arranged into three subspecies: ''L. dispar dispar'', (single-brooded) which was commonly found in England, but is now extinct, ''L. d ...

'') and succeeded in establishing a colony of ''L. d. rutilus'' at his home in Greenfields, Tipperary. The colony survived from 1918 until shortly before his death. He also discovered the life history of the large blue butterfly ('' Phengaris arion'') whose larvae live in the nest of the ant '' Myrmica sabuleti''. Purefoy was born on the Greenfields estate, Tipperary, in a landed Irish family, the second son of Captain (Honorary Colonel) Edward Bagwell-Purefoy (1819-1883) and Charlotte Wilkinson. One of his brothers was Wilfred Bagwell Purefoy (1862-1930). He was educated at

Tonbridge, Kent Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

and joined the

Kings Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

in 1888. Two years later he was with the 16th Lancers. He saw action as an Adjutant in the Boer war with the 57th Buckinghamshire Company of the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but s ...

. He received a

Queen's South Africa Medal The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps wer ...

with 6 clasps. he was invalided and returned home in July 1901 aboard the troopship ''Assaye''. He retired in 1908 to

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

. Purefoy was interested in butterflies from his youth and began to collect and rear them. He became a fellow of the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

and between 1915 and 1926 he was successful in reintroducing a population of the large copper butterfly which had gone extinct in Britain around 1850. He carefully prepared a bog with the host plant '' Rumex hydrolapathum'' and released 120 larvae obtained from near Wolvega by H. E. Wittpen. He had also introduced ''L. d. rutilis'' in 1913 from near Berlin and the two apparently crossbred. Hybrid specimens were sent to Tring. A population survived on his estate in County Tipperary until around 1955. He also identified the association of an ant species in the life cycle of the large blue butterfly which became extinct in the UK after his death. He collaborated with F. W. Frohawk on this study. Purefoy married Frances Elizabeth Rogers (d. 1903), daughter of John Thornton Rogers in 1897 and they had two sons including Lt. Col. Arthur Edward Bagwell-Purefoy (1903–1986). He died in 1960 in Kent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purefoy, Edward Bagwell 1868 births 1960 deaths English lepidopterists