Gervase Frederick Mathew (11 February 1842 – 10 February 1928) was an English naval officer and

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 ...

. Gervase Mathew was born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

and educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and

Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...

. He entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

as Assistant Clerk on 12 December 1860, was promoted to Assistant Paymaster on 15 February 1865, then to Paymaster on 9 February 1879, and retired as Paymaster-in-Chief on 11 February 1902. One of his early appointments was to the ''Warrior'', the first British ironclad. He was sometime based in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

then at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and travelled extensively in the central Pacific. He introduced

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854 – 31 March 1938) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern microlepidoptera systematics. Life and work Ed ...

to the fauna of the central Pacific islands. Gervase Mathew was a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Entomological Society of London 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 ...

the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

and the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

. His collection and

Types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

were sold to Godman and are now in the collection of the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

. His works include: * List of Lepidoptera forwarded to Edward Newman ''Entomologist'' 7(127):62-66 (1874) * Life history of Papilio archidamas ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 14(163): 152-153 (1877) * List of Lepidoptera observed in the neighbourhood of

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

Turkey, in 1878. ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 18: 10-13, 29-32, 92- (1881) * Life history of Callidryas drya, Boisd ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 18(214): 219-220 (1882) * Remarks on some Central American species of Pyrrhopyge, Hubn ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' 19(217): 18-19 (1882) * An afternoon among the butterflies of

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately ...

. ''Entomologist'' 19:33-36, 84-97 9 (1885) * Life history of three species of Western Pacific Rhopalocera.''Trans.Ent. Soc. Lond.'' 1885: 357-67, pl. X. (1885) *Descriptions of some new species of Rhopalocera from the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

. ''Proc. zool. Soc. Lond''. 1886(3): 343-350, illustrations. * Life-histories of Rhopalocera from the Australian region, ''Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond''. (1888), pp. 137–188 (1888) * Notes on the Lepidoptera from the Mediterranean ''Entomologist, 31: 77-84, 108-116,. 141 (1898) * Descriptions and life-histories of new species of Rhopalocera from the Western Pacific ''Trans. ent. Soc. Lond''. 37(2): 311-315 (1889) * Butterflies attracted by human perspiration ''Entomologist'' 55(708):112-113 (1922)

References

*Anon., 1928 ''Entomologists's Record and Journal of Variation'' Vol. XL. No. 1. 15 January 1928:4

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathew, Gervase Frederick English lepidopterists People educated at Blundell's School Royal Navy officers Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of the Linnean Society of London 1928 deaths 1842 births People educated at Barnstaple Grammar School Royal Navy logistics officers