George Carter Bignell

George

Carter Bignell (1826-1910) was an eminent Entomologist who lived the last part

of his life in Saltash where he died. After a prestigious career in the navy he

left after 22yrs and retired to Plymouth. He died in 1910 on the morning of his 84th

Birthday in Saltash.

George

Carter Bignell collected many species of bees, ants and wasps but is mainly

famous for his collection of parasitic wasps. He found many species unknown to

science and his extensive collection of parasitic wasps is housed at the

Natural History Museum in London. George Carter Bignell also collected and

pressed seaweed that he collected around Plymouth and Saltash and are still in

their original bound book, purchased by Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery by auction in 1994.

A

large collection of his work is still held at the Plymouth City Museum and Art

Gallery. The Museum bought his collections in 1908 for £240, which would be the

equivalent of £22,000 today. I went along to the Plymouth Museum and the Keeper

of Natural History, Jan Freedman kindly showed me Bignell's extensive collection of

butterflies, bees, moths and parasitic wasps, many still in their original wooden

cabinets. Bignell also kept a journal, now over a 100 years old that I had the

pleasure to peruse through at the Museum’s archive.

Insects

cannot be stuffed to preserve them so they are pinned, which involves pushing a

pin through the body of the hard exoskeleton which does not rot. Insects are the

largest group of animals in the world and it is important to collect and study

them because there is so many and they are so similar to each other, collecting

them in this way helps us to identify them. George Carter Bignell’s collections

are over 100 years old and they help us to identify and compare species of that

time to today.

George

Carter Bignell, like many scientists of his day, was exceptionally fastidious and

collected the tiniest of insects with great care, and meticulously pinned and

labeled them to help identify them. Without early scientific pioneers like

Bignell who were often amateur scientists we would not have such a large

understanding, and ability to make comparisons, of the natural world as we do today.

Bignell’s

Grandson, David Hodge who will hopefully be visiting his Grandfather’s home in

Saltash later this year, would love to find out about his Grandfather’s life in

Saltash. If you have any information about George Carter-Bignell please get in

touch with Saltashpeople.

Photos are taken from Plymouth City Museum and Art gallery. The photo of George Carter Bignell is taken from the Plymouth Museum website with kind permission to reproduce. Thank you to Jan Freedman the Natural History

keeper of the Plymouth Museum.