Reginald Wagstaffe (1907–1983) was a British naturalist, ornithologist, and museum curator.

Career

Wagstaffe attended the University of Cincinnati to study ornithology. He was appointed Curator of the Yorkshire Museum in January 1941, replacing

Walter Collinge Walter Edward Collinge (19 April 1867–24 November 1947) was a British zoologist and museum curator. He is notable for his academic work on terrestrial slugs and Isopoda and on economic biology. Early life and education Collinge was bo ...

, having formerly been Curator of the Stockport Municipal Museum. Wagstaffe lived with his wife, Trissie, in Manor Cottage, a building next to the Museum in the grounds of York Museum Gardens. They were living here during the Baedeker Raid on York on 29 April 1942, during which a bomb narrowly missed the Museum, but caused considerable damage to the roof and windows. Wagstaffe led the efforts to clean up the museum and salvage the Type fossils from the wreckage. Wagstaffe worked with the Honorary Curators of Entomology,

Walter Douglas Hincks Walter Douglas Hincks (3 September 1906–12 June 1961) was a British entomologist and museum curator. He was a world expert on the Dermaptera. Biography Hincks originally trained as a chemist and worked in the Pharmaceutical sector before his t ...

and A Smith to collect specimens for the museum from Askham Bog. He also worked with Hincks to bring the Ellis collection of insects to the museum in 1945. He left the Yorkshire Museum in 1948 to take up the post of Keeper of Vertebrate Zoology at

Liverpool City Museum Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

where he remained for the rest of his working life, founding the Liverpool Ornithologist's Club and serving as a member of the British Birds Rarities Committee from 1963 to 1970.

Publications

*Wagstaffe, R. and Fidler, J. H. 1957. ''The preservation of natural history specimens''. London. *Wagstaffe, R. 1978. ''Type specimens of birds in the Merseyside County Museums : formerly City of Liverpool Museums''. Liverpool.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagstaffe, Reginald 1907 births British curators 1983 deaths British ornithologists Yorkshire Museum people University of Cincinnati alumni 20th-century British zoologists