James Farish Malcolm Fawcett (27 July 1855 – 26 November 1924) was a British cavalry officer of the
5th Lancers.
He was also an
entomologist who specialised in
Lepidoptera.
Life
Fawcett was born in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
,
[''1911 England Census''] the son of James Fawcett, from an old Yorkshire gentry family (
Fawcett of Scaleby Castle), and Susan Charlotte Augusta Wilkie, daughter of Revd. Dr. Daniel Wilkie, of Rathbyres and Gilchriston in Scotland,
Minister of
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh. He was educated at
Harrow School. He matriculated at
Balliol College, Oxford in 1875 at the age of 19.
In 1878, a cadet of the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he became a second lieutenant in the
18th Hussars. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1881, to captain in 1884, and to major in 1892.
Fawcett served in the
defence of Ladysmith 1899–1900 during the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was wounded on 22 December 1899. He was awarded the
Queen's South Africa Medal with two clasps.
Legacy
Fawcett's collection of African
moth
Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...
s was acquired by
Walter Rothschild for his museum at
Tring and are now in the
Natural History Museum in London. His butterflies were sold by auction.
Fawcett's clouded yellow is named for him.
He entered the game record books for a
nilgai from
Bharatpur, Rajasthan.
Works
*(1903)
"Notes on the transformations of some South-African Lepidoptera" ''Transactions of the Zoological Society of London''. vol. 17, part 2.
*(1904). Minutes of meeting 7 June 1904. ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London''. (9): 8-9, in which some ''
Colias'' species are newly described
*(1916)
"Notes on a Collection of Heterocera made by Mr. W. Feather in British East Africa, 1911-13" ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London''. pages 707–737.
Family
Fawcett lived at Peckleton House,
Hinckley, Leicestershire, and was married on 20 October 1888 to Caroline Agar-Ellis (1866–1891), daughter of
Leopold Agar-Ellis, 5th Viscount Clifden.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcett, J. Malcolm
1856 births
20th-century deaths
18th Royal Hussars officers
English lepidopterists
Year of death missing
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War