Ellen Alice Britton
Ellen Alice Britton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 September 1874 |
| Died | 6 September 1959 (aged 84) |
| Occupation(s) | Insect collector Gardener |
| Years active | 1899-1939 |
Ellen Alice Britton M.B.E. (17 September 1874 – 6 September 1959) was a British nursery gardener who was active as an insect collector in Argentina from circa 1899-1909, sometimes working with her brother Charles. Britton's specimens contributed to the first scientific description of several Lepidoptera species. Britton was awarded an M.B.E. in 1920 for her voluntary service during the First World War.
Early life
[edit]Britton was born in Marylebone on 17 September 1874[1][2]: her parents were William Samuel Britton, a surgeon (1820-1877) and Ellen Henson Britton (née Sharp, 1843-1912), who had married in 1865.[3]
Britton's father William had been married previously in 1842, a relationship that had endured a long estrangement and finally ended in divorce in 1863 after William's first wife Louisa Weekes Britton had a child with another man named Henry Burton.[4] Because of her father's earlier marriage Ellen Britton had an older half-brother named Alfred (1848-1956), as well as three full siblings from her father's second marriage with her mother Ellen Sharp: Marion Emma (c.1867-1936), William Arthur (1868-1935) and Charles Boden (1870-1924). William Britton Snr. died in 1877 when Ellen Alice was three years old and afterwards she was cared for by her widowed mother Ellen in Berkhamstead, supported by her aunt and grandmother.[5]
Ellen Alice Britton was educated at a girl's boarding school at 22 Denmark Terrace, Brighton, and was recorded as resident there aged 16 on the night of the 1891 England census.[6]
Natural history collecting in Argentina
[edit]Britton's older brother William Arthur Britton emigrated to Argentina to work as a sheep rancher, and was resident in the country by 1896 when he married Anna Dorothea Heuer (1870-1943) at Buenos Aires.[7] Spending time with William Arthur and his family is a likely explanation for Ellen and Charles Britton visiting Argentina, where their collecting activity suggests they had arrived by 1899.[8]
Insect specimens collected by the Britton siblings were all collected at Entre Rios Province: in 1899 one of the Brittons collected an example of the sphinx moth Manduca paphus paphus at La Soledad.[8] An Arctiinae specimen collected by Ellen in January 1899, again at La Soledad, became the type specimen of a species described and named in her honour by Walter Rothschild, Paracles brittoni (Rothschild, 1910) - originally named Mallocephala brittoni.[9]
In 1904-1905 Ellen collected several caddisfly specimens.[10][11][12][13][14]
In April 1906, close to the Uruguayan border, Ellen collected the type specimen of the moth Erbessa dominula (Warren, 1909) which was described by William Warren at Tring, originally named Oricia dominula.[15]
By 1906 Charles and Ellen had collected some examples of Argentinian butterflies for Lord Rothschild's Museum at Tring, including Parides bunichus sbsp. damocrates (Guenée, 1872), Heraclides thoas thoantiades (Burmeister, 1878), Heraclides anchisiades capys (Hubner, [1809]) and Papilio hellanichus Hewitson, 1868.[16]
In 1909 at La Soledad near the Uruguayan border Ellen captured and then bred a series of a Geometrid moth which was later described and named Iridopsis brittonae in her honour by Louis Beethoven Prout.[17][18]
Return to the U.K. and volunteering during WWI
[edit]In 1910 Ellen Britton was recorded as travelling back to the UK from Buenos Aires aboard the ship Asturias.[19]
In around 1913 Britton and her older sister Marion moved to Tiverton, Devon where they lived in a house called Beecroft, opening their garden to the public regularly for fundraising towards good causes.[20] During the First World War Ellen worked as quartermaster for the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital that was based at Knightshayes Court, a service for which she was awarded a civilian M.B.E. in 1920.[20][21]
Ellen Britton contributed living plants, bulbs and seeds to Kew Gardens in 1935.[22] She was still working as a nursery gardener in 1939.[1]
Death and Legacy
[edit]Ellen Britton died at Tiverton on 6 September 1959,[23] and is laid to rest at St Mary's churchyard in Washfield.[24]
Specimens collected by Britton formed part of Lord Walter Rothchild's bequest of his collections to the British Museum, and are now part of the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.[10][11][12][13][14][25]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Ellen A Britton in the 1939 England and Wales Register". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ GRO index for England: Births: December quarter 1874: BRITTON, Ellen Alice, registered in Marylebone District. Volume: 1a: page 584.
- ^ "Marriages". Bicester Herald. 22 December 1865. p. 8.
- ^ "Jealousy: Britton v. Britton and Murton: - This was a case in the Divorce Court on Saturday..." Aberdeen People's Journal. 31 January 1863. p. 4 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Eileen A. Britton in the 1881 England Census". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ "1891 England Census for Ellen Alice Britton". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ "William Arthur Britton in the UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920 [note: the second page of William's record, pg. number 73663, shows the marriage details]". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ a b "Collection specimens - Specimens - BMNH(E)273558 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
- ^ Rothschild, Walter (1910). "Descriptions of New Species of Arctianae in the Tring Museum". Novitates Zoologicae: a journal of zoology in connection with the Tring Museum. 17: 177 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ a b "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014413058 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
- ^ a b "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014413132 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
- ^ a b "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014413297 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
- ^ a b "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014503170 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
- ^ a b "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014503176 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
- ^ Warren, William (May 1909). "New American Uraniidae and Geometridae in the Tring Museum". Novitates Zoologicae : a Journal of Zoology in connection with the Tring Museum. XVI (1): 70–71 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ Jordan, Karl; Rothschild, Walter (August 1906). "A Revision of the American Papilios". Novitates Zoologicae. XIII (3): 442, 561, 610, 628–629 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Occurrence Detail 3306093308". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
- ^ Prout, Louis B (December 1932). "New Exotic Geometridae". Novitates Zoologicae: A Journal of Zoology in Connection with the Tring Museum. 38: 116 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Ellen Mac Britton [=Ellen Alice Britton] in the UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ a b "Loss to Village Welfare: Washfield Mourns Miss M.E. Britton: Tributes at Funeral". The Western Times. 17 January 1936. p. 7 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "British Empire Honours: Devon War Workers Gain Recognition: A Lengthy List: Members". The Western Times. 1 April 1920. p. 7 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Appendix: Review of the Work of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, during 1935". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). 1935 (10): 608. 1935 – via JSTOR.
- ^ England Probate Calendar for 1959: Britton, Ellen Alice died 6 September 1959: page 753. Accessed through probatesearch.service.gov.uk
- ^ "Ellen A Britton (unknown-1959) - Find a Grave..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ^ "Collection specimens - Specimens - BMNH(E)275168 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2025-01-10.