Frederick DuCane Godman (15 January 1834 – 19 February 1919) was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist. He was one of the twenty founding members of the British Ornithologists' Union. Along with Osbert Salvin, he is remembered for studying the fauna and flora of Central America.

Godman collected Iznik, Hispano-Moresque and early Iranian pottery. His collection of more than 600 pieces was donated to the British Museum through the will of his younger daughter, Catherine, who died in 1982.

Early life and Cambridge years

Frederick DuCane Godman was born on 15 January 1834 at Park Hatch, Godalming, Surrey, and was one of the thirteen children of Joseph Godman and Caroline Smith. Joseph Godman was a partner in the brewery firm Whitbread & Company. Frederick was sent to study at Eton College in 1844 but left three years later due to poor health and was educated at home by private tutors. At the age of 18 he went with his tutor on a trip around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea visiting southern Spain, Athens and Constantinople.

Godman joined Trinity College, Cambridge in 1853, where he met Alfred Newton and Osbert Salvin. Both Salvin and Godman spent time learning to skin and mount birds at Baker's taxidermy shop on the Trumpington Road. They also spent time in the field on the fens. The custom of these ornithological friends, (which included his younger brother Percy (1836–1922)), to meet and talk over their recent acquisitions led to the idea of an organisation and the foundation of the British Ornithological Union. At a meeting in Newton's room in Magdalene College on 17 November 1858, a group that included Godman, Salvin, Wilfred Simpson, John Wolley, Philip Sclater and others decided that "... an Ornithological Union of twenty members should be formed, with the object of establishing a new Journal devoted to Birds: that Lieut.-Colonel H. M. Drummond should be President, Professor Newton the Secretary of the Union, and Sclater should edit the Journal: that the title of the Journal should be The Ibis."

Travels

Godman inherited a fortune from his father that allowed him to travel the world. He made many other trips later including a trip to India in 1886 with his brother-in-law Henry John Elwes. They visited Bombay, Delhi, Allan Octavian Hume at Simla, Calcutta and then travelled east to Sikkim. He purchased a collection of butterflies from Robert Lidderdale (1835–1908). During this trip he had trouble walking particularly at high altitudes. They returned through Madras and Sri Lanka. Later on he had a blood clot in the veins of his legs, leading him to move and live in the warmth of Mexico in 1885. Even here he joined Elwes on a trip up Popacatapetl.

thumb|Portrait of Frederick Du Cane Godman, c. 1909, by Leon Sprinck

Godman also took an interest in plants, maintaining a large collection of rhododendrons, orchids and alpine plants in his garden and rockery at South Lodge near Horsham. This house is now the South Lodge Hotel. There appears to have been a friendly rivalry with his friend Sir Edmund Loder, a plantsman and owner of nearby Leonardslee country estate. They co-operated on loderii hybrid rhododendron, a cross between Leanardslee's Rhododendron fortunei and South Lodge's Rhododendron griffianthium. South Lodge remains notable for its rhododendrons. His other botanical passions included orchids and nerines, and with his gardener, Geoffrey Giles, he propagated rare orchids, regularly being awarded for his efforts by the Royal Horticultural Society.

thumb|upright|right|The Godman-Salvin medal was instituted in 1919, the medal was designed by [[Allan G. Wyon]]

In 1873 he married Edith, the daughter of J. H. Elwes (and hence sister of Godman's friend H. J. Elwes) and after her death in 1875 Eva Mary (1895–1965) and Catherine Edith (1896–1982). Both his daughters took an interest in natural history. The elder daughter Eva was killed by a vehicle when she crossed a street to post a letter. His collection of more than 600 pieces of Islamic pottery was transferred to the British Museum through the will of his younger daughter, Catherine, who died in 1982.

Godman was secretary of the British Ornithological Union from 1870 to 1882 and again from 1889 to 1897, and also served as president from 1896 until 1913. He was a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, and member of its council from 1902. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1882, received a gold medal from the Linnean Society in 1918, and was made a trustee of the British Museum.

Legacy

Godman is commemorated in the scientific names of four species of reptiles: Anolis godmani (a synonym of Anolis limifrons), Cerrophidion godmani, Rhadinella godmani, Thamnophis godmani; one amphibian, Godman's tree frog (Tlalocohyla godmani); and a heliconiine butterfly, Heliconius godmani.

Works

thumb|The ranguru or [[Chatham petrel, Pterodroma axillaris, from Godman's Monograph of the Petrels]]

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;Books

  • Scans from the Internet archive: Volume 1, Volume 2.

;Journal articles

Godman published 12 article on birds in the Ibis. Several of these had multiple parts and almost all were with Salvin as a co-author.

References

Further reading

  • British Museum collection information