Name James Fletcher | Role Writer | |
Born 28 March 1852 ( 1852-03-28 ) Ash, near Rochester, Kent, England Known for "Father of Economic entomology in Canada" Relatives Collingwood Schreiber, father-in-law Died November 8, 1908, Montreal, Canada Books Jackson Unveiled: The Complete Story of the King of Pop, Exploring Geography Using an Atlas, Farm Weeds of Canada | ||
James Fletcher (28 March 1852 – 8 November 1908) was a Canadian entomologist, botanist and writer.
He was born near Rochester, Kent, England in 1852. He began work as a clerk at the Bank of British North America in London, England, and was transferred to the Montreal branch in 1874 and the Ottawa branch in 1875. In 1876, he began work as an assistant in the Library of Parliament and discovered an interest in botany and entomology. He was one of the founding members of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club and a president of the Ottawa Horticultural Society. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1885.
Fletcher established a national reporting system to help identify and control the spread of insects and weeds harmful to agriculture. In 1887, he became the first Dominion Entomologist and Botanist attached to the Central Experimental Farm. He helped set up measures to control the spread of plant diseases and harmful insects from both within and outside Canada. He was a founder of the American Association of Economic Entomologists, now the Entomological Society of America, and a fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Fletcher also initiated the Canadian National Collection (CNC) of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes.
Besides his contributions to scientific journals and bulletins published by the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, he published with George H. Clark, The farm weeds of Canada in 1906.
He died in Montreal in 1908.
The Fletcher Wildlife Garden at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, was named after him. On 15 February 2016, Fletcher was designated a national historic person of Canada.