John David Bradley (24 January 1920 – 4 January 2004) was a British

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the two superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, the r ...

. He is best known for his works with Arthur Smith and Gerry Tremewan in '' British Tortricoid Moths''. He also appears in the ''Acknowledgements'' section of almost every work on

microlepidoptera Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the "smaller moths" ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, so are harder to iden ...

in recent decades.

Early life

Bradley was born in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a suburb of southwest London, England, southwest of Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,189 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimb ...

on 24 January 1920, and began his interest in insects during his childhood. He left school at 16 to become a lab assistant in bacteriology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1938, Bradley joined the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

as a Preparator, but the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

interrupted. He then spent a few years in the armed forces in Austria, Italy, and North Africa.

Career

After the war, Bradley returned to the Museum and began work on the curation of

Meyrick Meyrick is a surname and a masculine given name. Meyricke is a variant form. Surname * Denzil Meyrick (1965–2025), Scottish novelist * Edmund Meyrick (1636–1713), Welsh cleric * Edward Meyrick (1854–1938), English schoolmaster and amateu ...

's collection. He joined the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology in 1964. His task was identifying microlepidoptera sent in from various parts of the world. In 1960–1964, he was editor of the

Entomologist's Gazette The ''Entomologist's Gazette'' was a British entomological journal. It contained articles and notes on the biology, ecology, distribution, taxonomy and systematics of all orders of insects, but with a bias towards Lepidoptera. It was produced quar ...

. After London, he settled in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, where he became involved with the Somerset Moth Group. Bradley described many species, including '' Cryptophlebia pallifimbriana'', '' Ethmia phricotypa'', and '' Anarsia taurella''. He published more than a hundred papers before the year 2000.

Legacy

His biography was published in ''Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, John David 1920 births 2004 deaths People from Wimbledon, London English lepidopterists

Early life

Career

Legacy

See also

References