George Hamilton Kenrick

George Hamilton Kenrick ( born January 29, 1850 in Edgbaston, West Midlands, † May 28, 1939 ) was a British lepidopterist. He was the uncle of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain ( 1869-1940 ).

Life and work

Kenrick was the son of Timothy Kenrick from Edgbaston and the grandson of Archibald Kenrick, founder of the metal tableware company Archibald Kenrick & Sons in West Bromwich. After his training in Brighton and at University College London, he worked for two years as an engineer at the company Nettlefolds in Smethwick, where his brother Joseph Chamberlain was head. Then he joined his father's company, where he was chairman for many years. Aside from his professional career, Kenrick engaged in the primary and higher education policy. At the age of 30 he became a member of the school board in Birmingham. From 1908 to 1909 he was Lord Mayor ( Mayor ) of Birmingham. Furthermore, it was Birmingham City Council.

At the beginning of the 20th century Kenrick began to write about tropical butterflies. He sent the naturalist Antwerp Edgar Pratt (1850-1920) and his two sons, Carl Brenders and Pratt Felix B. Pratt from 1902 to 1903 by British New Guinea, and from 1909 to 1910 in the Arfak Mountains to Dutch New Guinea. Both expeditions, in which hundreds of new species of butterflies ( including the Birdwing Ornithoptera Rothschildi ) were discovered, were very successful. In the 1930s, Kenrick sold his entire butterfly collection at the Birmingham Natural History Museum.

Kenrick was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and in 1909 he was defeated by King Edward VII knighted.

Dedikationsnamen

After several Kenrick Schmetterlingstaxa are named, including Delias kenricki, Belciana kenricki, Ophiusa kenricki, Endocrossis kenricki and Ornithoptera Rothschildi kenricki.

Works (selection)

• A list of moths of the family Pyralidae collected by AE Pratt in British New Guinea in 1902-3, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1907: p 68-87
• Some undescribed Butterflies from Dutch New Guinea, 1911
• A list of moths of the family Pyralidae collected by Felix B. Pratt and Charles B. Pratt in Dutch New Guinea in 1909-1910; with descriptions of new species, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1912: p 505-913
• New and little known Heterocera of Madagascar (1913 and 1917 )