William Chapman Hewitson (9 January 1806, in
Newcastle upon Tyne – 28 May 1878, in
Oatlands Park,
Surrey) was a British
naturalist.[1] A wealthy collector, Hewitson was particularly devoted to
Coleoptera (beetles) and
Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and, also, to
birds' nests and
eggs. His collection of butterflies, collected by him as well as purchased from travellers throughout the world, was one of the largest and most important of his time.[1][2] He contributed to and published many works on entomology and ornithology and was an accomplished scientific illustrator.
Life
William Hewitson was educated in
York.[1] He became a
land-surveyor and was for some time employed under
George Stephenson on the
London and Birmingham Railway. Delicate health and the accession to an ample fortune through the death of a relative led him to give up his profession and he afterwards devoted himself to scientific studies.[1] He lived for a time at
Bristol and
Hampstead. In 1848 he purchased ten or twelve acres of
Oatlands Park, Surrey, and built a house there. He remained at Oatlands for the rest of his life.[1]
^"Officers of the Society". Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and New Castle Upon Tyne. 1: iv. 1831. Retrieved 19 January 2016.