Nationality English Name George Kenrick | Died May 28, 1939 Known for Butterflies and moths | |
Sir George Hamilton Kenrick FRES (1850 – 28 May 1939) was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera especially those of New Guinea. He was a prominent liberal educationist and was a councillor in Birmingham.
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Life
Kenrick was born in 1850. He was the son of Timothy Kenrick from Edgbaston and the grandson of Archibald Kenrick, founder of the cutlery firm Archibald Kenrick & Sons in West Bromwich. After completing his education in Brighton and at University College, London, he worked for two years as an engineer at Nettlefolds in Smethwick, where his brother was a director. He then joined his father's company, where he was chairman for many years.
Kenrick engaged with the local primary and higher education policy and at the age of 30 he became a member of the school board in Birmingham after the resignation of Dr Dale. He promoted physical training in schools and promoted sports setting up a Kenrick Shield in 1883. In 1908, he served for a year as Lord Mayor of Birmingham.
His collection of world butterflies and moths is in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, except the types which are in the Natural History Museum, London.
At the beginning of the 20th century Kenrick began writing about tropical butterflies. He sent the naturalist Antwerp Edgar Pratt and his two sons, Carl Brenders Pratt and Felix Biet Pratt 1902-1903 to the British part of New Guinea and from 1909 to 1910 into Arfak Mountains to Dutch New Guinea. Both expeditions, in which hundreds of new species of butterfly (including the Birdwing Ornithoptera rothschildi) were discovered, were very successful. In the 1930s, Kenrick sold his butterfly collection at the Birmingham Natural History Museum. Kenrick was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (FRES).
Kenrick was knighted by King Edward VII in 1909, during a royal visit to Birmingham, while he was Lord Mayor.