Michael Willmer Forbes Tweedie (2 September 1907 – 25 March 1993) was a naturalist and archaeologist working in

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, who was Director of the

Raffles Museum , native_name_lang = , logo = , image = 2016 Singapur, Museum Planning Area, Narodowe Muzeum Singapuru (02).jpg , imagesize = 300 , caption = Entrance to the National Museum of Singapore , coordinates ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Biography

Tweedie was the son of Maurice Carmichael Tweedie, who was Deputy Inspector-General in the Imperial

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

, and his wife Mildred Clarke. He read

Natural Science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, specializing in zoology and geology, followed by a short spell working as an oil geologist in Venezuela. He became assistant

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the Raffles Museum (now the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM; , ) is a museum of natural history at the Kent Ridge Campus of the National University of Singapore. It is named after Lee Kong Chian, a prominent Chinese businessman and philanthropist active i ...

) in 1932 until the Japanese occupation in 1941. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he joined the volunteer Royal Air Force and in 1941 joined the Royal Air Force as a camouflage officer, drawing on his knowledge of camouflage in nature. After Singapore fell, he was evacuated to Java, where his knowledge of Malay, learned from the local staff in Singapore, was valuable. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Java. While being held at Boi Glodok he developed a yeast mixture, grown on potatoes, whose high vitamin B content helped cure his fellow prisoners of pellagra. He was subsequently moved to

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

in Japan and then Mukden (

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

) in Manchuria before liberation by Soviet troops in 1945. After the end of

World War II 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 ...

, he became Director of the museum in 1946, remaining in that post until 1957. Tweedie was involved in many biological and archaeological expeditions in South East Asia and collected many specimens himself. Many of Tweedie's collections were of species that proved to be new to science (such as a leech, '' Phytobdella catenifera''). He also wrote many scientific articles particularly regarding

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, fish, and

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s. He also wrote many books to encourage the layman in the study of

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He was made an honorary member of the Malayan Nature Society. Tweedie married Elvira Toby, of

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, Australia, in 1938, and they had a son and two daughters.

Legacy

Tweedie is commemorated in the scientific names of a species of Malaysian snake, '' Macrocalamus tweediei''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Tweedie", p. 269).

Bibliography

*Editor of the Malaysian Nature Handbooks series published by

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

Malaysia. *Tweedie MWF (1953). "The Stone Age in Malaya". ''Journal of the Malayan Branch

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

'' 26 (2): 1-90. *Tweedie MWF, Harrison JL (1954). ''Malayan Animal Life''. Longman. *Tweedie MWF (1977). ''The World of Dinosaurs''. New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc *Tweedie MWF (1983). ''The Snakes of Malaya''. Singapore: Singapore National Printers Ltd. 105 pp. ASIN B0007B41IO.

References

1907 births 1993 deaths Natural history of Indonesia English archaeologists British carcinologists British curators British expatriates in Singapore Museum directors Alumni of the University of Cambridge 20th-century British zoologists British expatriates in Venezuela {{UK-archaeologist-stub