James Alan Moy-Thomas (12 September 1908 – 29 February 1944) was an English

palaeontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

. The son of Alan Moy-Thomas and his wife Gertrude, 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 ...

. He had a younger brother Edward and an older sister Joan Caroline. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where he graduated with a first class degree in zoology in 1930 He authored numerous papers on palaeontological ichthyology. In 1933 he married Joy Mitchell in

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated at source in North Yorkshire and then flows into West Yorkshire and forms the upper valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale (downstream, from west to east) includ ...

, Yorkshire. In 1941 he was granted a Commission in the Special Duties Branch (i.e. intelligence) of the RAF. His service number was 66643. He died in a motor vehicle accident in 1944 and was buried in Cambridge. An obituary was published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', and another by

Edwin Stephen Goodrich Edwin Stephen Goodrich FRS (Weston-super-Mare, 21 June 1868 – Oxford, 6 January 1946), was an English zoologist, specialising in comparative anatomy, embryology, palaeontology, and evolution. He held the Linacre Chair of Zoology in the Unive ...

was published in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

''. Two genera of

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

fish, ''

Jamoytius ''Jamoytius kerwoodi'' is an extinct species of primitive, eel-like jawless fish known from the Patrick Burn Formation in Scotland, dating to the Llandovery epoch of the Early Silurian period. Long thought of as a "basal anaspid," ''J. kerwood ...

'' and '' Moythomasia'', are named after him. His brother Edward died later that year on active service in the Netherlands, during Operation Market Garden.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moy-Thomas, J. A. 1908 births 1944 deaths English ichthyologists English palaeontologists Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People educated at Eton College Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Scientists from London British intelligence operatives 20th-century English zoologists Road incident deaths in the United Kingdom