Henry Doubleday (1 July 1808 – 29 June 1875) was an English entomologist and ornithologist. There is a blue plaque to him at the corner of High Street and Buttercross Lane, Epping, at the site of his father's grocer shop. He wrote a catalogue of British butterflies and moths, and named a number of new species of moth, including the pigmy footman, Ashworth's rustic and marsh oblique-barred. His moth collection remains intact at the Natural History Museum.

Life

Henry Doubleday was born in 1808, and was the eldest son of Quaker and grocer Benjamin Doubleday and his wife Mary of Epping, Essex. He and his brother Edward Doubleday spent their childhood collecting natural history specimens in Epping Forest. He lived at the same time as his cousin Henry Doubleday (1810-1902) the scientist and horticulturist.

Doubleday died on 29 June 1875, some time after having suffered a breakdown brought on by the stress of the collapse of his business.

References

  • Full text of Andrew Murray's Catalogue of the Doubleday Collection of Lepidoptera Part I. British Lepidoptera and Part II. European Lepidoptera
  • A Synonymic List of All the British Butterflies and Moths
  • Dunning, J.W. (March 1877) "Biographical Notice". The Entomologist.