Henry Eeles Dresser
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
businessman and ornithologist.
Henry Dresser was born in Thirsk
Thirsk
Thirsk is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The local travel links are located a mile from the town centre to Thirsk railway station and to Durham Tees Valley Airport...
where his father was the manager of the bank which had been set up by his grandfather. Dresser's father left Thirsk in 1840-41 to become a bank manager in Leeds before moving south to set up business in London in 1846 as a commission merchant in the Baltic timber business. Henry Dresser senior was in business with his father-in-law, Robert Garbutt of Hull, who traded with the firm of Hackman and Co. of Vyborg (Viipuri) which was in southern Finland at the time. Henry Dresser senior also purchased a large timber sawmill business in New Brunswick, the Lancaster Mills, near Musquash in 1848.
Henry Eeles Dresser was the eldest son of Henry Dresser and Eliza Ann Garbutt; he had five sisters and three brothers. His father intended for him to take over the family business in the Baltic timber trade so took him out of school in Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
and sent him firstly to Ahrensburg
Ahrensburg
Ahrensburg is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, situated in Stormarn. Its population around 31,700 . Its outstanding sight is the Renaissance castle dating from 1595....
in 1852, to learn German and then, in 1854, to Gefle and Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
to study Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
. Henry Dresser then spent a time in Hackman's offices in Vyborg in order to learn Finnish during 1856-58, during which time he travelled round the Baltic coast several times. Dresser had a lifelong interest in birds and collected bird skins and eggs from his early teenage years. Whilst he was in Finland in 1858 he discovered breeding Waxwings and was the first English person to collect their eggs. This brought him fame among English ornithologists.
Through the 1860s, Dresser travelled widely through Europe and was twice in New Brunswick at his father's sawmill. He always sought out ornithologists with whom he could exchange birds and eggs. In 1863, during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he travelled to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
via the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
on behalf of Liverpool and Manchester based businessmen, taking a cargo of blankets, quinine and other goods which were in short supply which were to be sold and raw cotton to be purchased with the proceeds. During his time in Texas, which was from June 1863- July 1864, he had many adventures, avoiding yellow fever, bandits and thieves. In spite of his difficult circumstances, Dresser made a large collection of around 400 bird skins in southern Texas. His notes on his time in Texas, published in The Ibis
Ibis (journal)
Ibis, subtitled the International Journal of Avian Science, is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the British Ornithologists' Union. Topics covered include ecology, conservation, behaviour, palaeontology, and taxonomy of birds. The editor-in-chief is Paul F. Donald. The journal is published by...
(1865-66) are a leading source of information for the period and include mention of several interesting birds including the extinct (or almost extinct) Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Ivory-billed Woodpecker
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is or was one of the largest woodpeckers in the world, at roughly 20 inches in length and 30 inches in wingspan. It was native to the virgin forests of the southeastern United States...
, the almost extinct Eskimo Curlew
Eskimo Curlew
The Eskimo or the "Northern Curlew" is a critically endangered shorebird, now considered by many to be extinct.-Taxonomy:The Eskimo Curlew is one of eight species of curlew, and is classed with them in the genus Numenius. It was formerly placed in the separate genus Mesoscolopax. Numenius is...
and the endangered Whooping Crane
Whooping Crane
The whooping crane , the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The whooping crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild...
.
Dresser was a leading figure in ornithological circles: he was elected as a Member of the British Ornithologists' Union
British Ornithologists' Union
The British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....
in 1865 and served as its secretary from 1882 to 1888. He was also a member and fellow of the Linnean and Zoological societies
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats...
of London and an honorary fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union
American Ornithologists' Union
The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...
. He was a close friend of Professor Alfred Newton
Alfred Newton
Alfred Newton FRS was an English zoologist and ornithologist.Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907...
, Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford
Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford
Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford , was a British aristocrat and ornithologist.Lilford was the eldest son of Thomas Powys, 3rd Baron Lilford, and Hon. Mary Elizabeth Fox, daughter of Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland. He succeeded his father as fourth Baron in 1861...
and of Sir Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
and he knew all of the leading ornithologists of the day. He was particularly well-known to European, American and Russian ornithologists. He worked with Alfred Newton on the development of a close time for British birds when they could not be hunted during the 1860s, an early part of the development of the bird conservation movement. In spite of his prominence as an ornithologist, this activity had to come second to his business which, from 1870 until 1910, was in the iron business, with premises at 110 Cannon Street in The City.
Dresser was the author of over 100 scientific papers on birds, mostly concerned with geographical distribution and new species. His Manual of Palaearctic Birds (1902) was an important contribution to the delimitation of the ranges of Palaearctic birds. Dresser also produced some of the last of the great folio works on birds, notably A History of the Birds of Europe (1871-1881, supplement issued in 1895-96), begun with Richard Bowdler Sharpe. This was complemented by The Eggs of the Birds of Europe (issued 1905-1910) and monographs on bee-eater
Bee-eater
The bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa and Asia but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers...
s (1884-86) and roller
Roller
The rollers are an Old World family, Coraciidae, of near passerine birds. The group gets its name from the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appearance of kingfishers and...
s (1893). These were based upon examination of the leading collections of the day, most notably his own. During the production of the 'History', Dresser and some other leading ornithologists, including Lord Lilford, rented rooms together at Tenterden Street in London, so as to be close to the library of the Zoological Society of London
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats...
in Hanover Square. Dresser also had privileged access to the notes of many of the most prominent ornithologists, such as Russian ornithologist Sergei Buturlin, who discovered the main breeding grounds of Ross's Gull
Ross's Gull
The Ross's Gull is a small gull, the only species in its genus, although it has been suggested it should be moved to the genus Hydrocoloeus, which otherwise only includes the Little Gull....
in 1905 in the Kolyma delta in remote north-east Siberia.
Dresser left England in 1912 in order to live in Cannes for the benefit of his health; he died in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
. His collection of birds had been in the Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum
The Manchester Museum is owned by the University of Manchester. Sited on Oxford Road at the heart of the university's group of neo-Gothic buildings, it provides access to about six million items from every continent and serves both as a resource for academic research and teaching and as a regional...
, part of The University of Manchester, since 1899 and was purchased for the museum by JP Thomasson (a Bolton businessman). Dresser's egg collection was acquired by the museum in 1912. The museum also contains some of Dresser's correspondence and diaries.