Edward Percy Stebbing

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRGS FZS (4 January 1872 – 21 March 1960) was a pioneering English

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

and forest

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He was among the first to warn of

desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...

and

desiccation Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. The ...

and wrote on "The encroaching Sahara". In 1935, he wrote of the "desert whose power is incalculable and whose silent and almost invisible approach must be difficult to estimate." He suggested that this was man-made and this led to a joint Anglo-French forestry mission from December 1936 to February 1937 that toured northern Nigeria and Niger to assess the danger of desertification. StebbingBook

Life

He was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 4 January 1872, and was the second son of Edward Charles Stebbing (b. 1839). He was educated at St Paul's School, London. He then studied at the Royal Engineering College and Coopers Hill College (which specialised in training for the Indian Forest Service). He then studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and graduated with a MA. From 1900 to 1910, he worked as Forest Entomologist and Zoologist for the Indian Forest Service. In 1910, he returned to the University of Edinburgh as Professor of Forestry. He lived at 13 Wolseley Place, Edinburgh with his brother. In 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 was a Second Lieutenant in the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

. He served on the Serbian Front in Macedonia, taking part in the Battle of Kajmakčalan and acting as transport officer to the Scottish Women's Hospitals. In 1923, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker, Ralph Allan Sampson, Arthur Crichton Mitchell and James Hartley Ashworth. He retired in 1951 and died on 21 March 1960.

Family

In 1907, he married Maude Evelyn Brown (d. 1950).

Works

* Injurious Insects of Indian Forests (1899
online
* Insect intruders in Indian homes (1909
online
* Stalks in the Himalayas (1911)
New York Times review
* Jungle By-ways in India (1911
online
* Indian forest insects of economic importance. Coleoptera (1914
online
* British Forestry (1916
online
* At the Serbian front in Macedonia (1917
online
ref> * From Czar to Bolshevik (1918
online
* The Forests of India (3 volumes) (1922) * The forests of West Africa and the Sahara: a Study of Modern Conditions (London and Edinburgh, 1937)

Botanical Reference

References

External links

1872 births 1960 deaths British entomologists Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British people in colonial India Fellows_of_the_Zoological_Society_of_London {{UK-biologist-stub