Thomas Coward
Encyclopedia
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats...
, FRES
Royal Entomological Society of London
The Royal Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. It has a major national and international role in disseminating information about insects and improving communication between entomologists....
, MBOU
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....
(8 January 1867–29 January 1933), was an English
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...
ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
and an amateur astronomer
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. He wrote extensively on natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, local history
Local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context and it often concentrates on the local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history...
and Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
.
Life
He was born at 8 Higher Downs, BowdonBowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon is a suburban village and electoral ward in the Altrincham area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.-History:...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
(now Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
) 8 January 1867, the fourth and last child of Thomas and Sarah Coward. His was a Congregational
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
minister and in business as a partner in the firm of Melland and Coward, textile bleachers. Coward's siblings were Charles, Alice and Annie.
After an education at Brooklands School, Sale
Sale, Greater Manchester
Sale is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, the town lies on flat ground on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of the city of Manchester...
and at Owens College (now Manchester University), Coward worked in the family business for 19 years, before it was taken over by the Bleachers' Association. His share of the proceeds from the sale of Melland and Coward was sufficient to allow him to retire from business and concentrate on his love of wildlife and the study of birds, which had developed as a child. He began writing articles on natural history for newspapers including The Liverpool Daily Post, The Chester Cournant and The Manchester Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
for which he wrote the "Country Diary
Country Diary
Country Diary is a daily natural history column in the English newspaper The Guardian, first published in November 1906. It is also now freely available on the newspaper's website. Past and present contributors include Pete Bowler, Arnold Boyd, Mark Cocker, Thomas Coward, Harry Griffin, Jim Perrin...
" column until his death. General interest magazines for which he wrote included The Field
The Field (magazine)
The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...
and Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
and in specialist journals such as The Zoologist
The Zoologist
The Zoologist was a monthly natural history journal founded in 1843 by the publisher Edward Newman, published in London. Newman acted as editor until his death in 1876, when he was succeeded by James Edmund Harting and William Lucas Distant .Originating from an enlargement of The Entomologist...
, Proceedings of the Zoological Society and British Birds
British Birds (magazine)
British Birds is a monthly ornithology magazine that was established in 1907. It is now published by BB 2000 Ltd, which is wholly owned by The British Birds Charitable Trust , established for the benefit of British ornithology...
.
His first book was The Birds of Cheshire, published in 1900, when he was living in Hale. His three-volume The Birds of the British Isles and their eggs (1920–1925) was illustrated by Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn was a Scottish artist and bird illustrator, painting mostly in watercolour. He regularly visited Scotland to sketch birds in the wild, his favourite haunt being the Forest of Gaick near Kingussie in Invernesshire...
and was "acknowledged as being the book that did more to popularise the study of birds than any other publication produced during the first part of the twentieth century". It was revised by Arnold Boyd
Arnold Boyd
Arnold Whitworth Boyd MC, MA, FZS, FRES, MBOU was an ornithologist and naturalist from Cheshire, England.He was a long-time contributor to The Guardian 's "Country Diary" column, taking over a slot from Thomas Coward in 1933, on the latter's death...
for a new edition in 1950.
He married his cousin Mary Milne in 1904. There is a Blue Plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
at his former home, Brentwood Villa, 6 Grange Road, Bowdon, to which he moved in 1911.
On his death, the 14 acres (56,656 m²) Cotterill Clough Nature Reserve was bought, by public subscription, in his honour.
All of his field notes are archived at in the Department of Zoology at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
Positions
- Acting Keeper of the Manchester Museum (During World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
) - Chairman and President of the Altrincham and District Natural History and Literary Society
External links
- The Birds of the British Isles and Their Eggs Google Books. Retrieved 11 June 2011.