Reginald Innes Pocock
Encyclopedia
Reginald Innes Pocock F.R.S. (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 zoologist.

Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol
Clifton, Bristol
Clifton is a suburb of the City of Bristol in England, and the name of both one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells...

, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's School, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

. He received tutoring in zoology from Sir Edward Poulton, and was allowed to explore comparative anatomy at the Oxford Museum
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the...

. He studied biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 at University College, Bristol
University College, Bristol
University College, Bristol was an educational institution which existed from 1876 to 1909. It was the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol, which gained a Royal Charter in 1909...

 under Conwy Lloyd Morgan and William Johnson Sollas
William Johnson Sollas
William Johnson Sollas FRS was a British geologist and anthropologist. After studying at the City of London School, the Royal College of Chemistry and the Royal School of Mines he matriculated to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded First Class Honours in geology...

. In 1885 he became an assistant at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

, and worked in the section of Entomology
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

 for a year. He was put in charge of the collections of Arachnid
Arachnid
Arachnids are a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. All arachnids have eight legs, although in some species the front pair may convert to a sensory function. The term is derived from the Greek words , meaning "spider".Almost all extant arachnids are terrestrial...

a and Myriapoda
Myriapoda
Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial...

. He was also tasked with arranging the British birds collections, in the course of which he developed a lasting interest in ornithology. The 200 papers he published in his eighteen years at the museum soon brought him recognition as an authority on Arachnida and Myriapoda.

In 1904 he left to become Superintendent of London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...

, remaining so until his retirement in 1923. He then worked, as a voluntary researcher, in the British Museum, in the mammals department.

He described the Leopon
Leopon
A leopon is a hybrid resulting from the crossing of a male leopard with a lioness. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards. These hybrids are produced in captivity and are unlikely to occur in the wild.The first documented...

 in a 1912 letter to The Field, based on examination of a skin sent to him by W. S. Millard, the Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society
Bombay Natural History Society
The Bombay Natural History Society, founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants, and publishes the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Many...

.

His brother Edward Innes Pocock
Edward Innes Pocock
Edward Innes Pocock was a Scottish rugby union player. Playing at three-quarters, Pocock gained two caps for Scotland while representing Edinburgh Wanderers at club level. A soldier by profession, he served in Cecil Rhodes' Pioneer Column...

 played international rugby for Scotland and was part of Cecil Rhodes' Pioneer Column
Pioneer Column
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Southern Rhodesia ....

. His great grandfather was marine artist Captain Nicholas Pocock
Nicholas Pocock
thumb|Pocock's bird's-eye-view painting of the [[Battle of Copenhagen ]]Nicholas Pocock was a British artist best known for his many detailed paintings of naval battles during the age of sail....

.

Partial bibliography

  • Reginald Innes Pocock (1900) The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma – the Arachnida volume.
  • Reginald I. Pocock (1902) Arachnida. Scorpiones, Pedipalpi, and Solifugae In Biologia Centrali-Americana. Arachnida.
  • Reginald Innes Pocock (1939) The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma – Mammalia Vol 1, Primates and Carnivora (in part).

External links

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