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Biodiversity Explorers
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Izard, Alfred David (1863-1968)
Chiefly a mountaineer rather than an insect collector, but accompanied KH
Barnard and CW Thorne on mountaineering
expeditions where he assisted them with collecting (e.g. Idlewild
expedition). Barnard named the stag beetle
Colophon izardi after him.
| Date |
Age |
Event(s) |
| 19 Jan 1893 |
0 |
Born in London. |
| ?-1910 |
?-17 |
Educated at Dulwich College,
London, until his Father's early death in 1910.
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| |
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Joined the Eastern Telegraph
Company (later to become Cable & Wireless) and attended their training
college at Porthcurno, Cornwall, where he successfully overcame his fear
of heights by forcing himself to walk and climb on the coastal paths and
rocks; excellent training for his subsequent interest in mountaineering in
Cape Town. He was a keen sportsman playing tennis and rugby (he played for
the local Penzance team "The Pirates of Penzance"!) and was a
good swimmer too. |
| 1915-1918 |
22-25 |
He requested a transfer to Cable
Ships in order to "do his bit for 'King and Country'" during the
Great War. He served in the Mediterranean for three years as an engineer
repairing cables damaged by the enemy, and thus restoring communications
so vital to the war effort. He kept a diary during this period. |
| 1918-1921 |
25-28 |
He continued to serve on Cable
Ships and it was during this time that he probably "acquired"
his collection of butterflies and beetles. He was then transferred to the
foreign service staff, presumably also at his request |
| 1925-1928 |
32-35 |
Posted to Cape Town as a
Telegraph Clerk and where he spent three happy years. It could not have
taken him long to discover the delights of mountaineering in view of the
fact that the Idlewild trip occurred
so soon after arriving. He went on this trip with K.H.
Barnard and C.W. Thorne of the South
African Museum. He was also a keen member of the South African
Mountaineering Club. Barnard at a later stage named the stag beetle Colophon
izardi after him. |
| ?-1968 |
?-75 |
Always interested in all aspects
of nature, in retirement to Cornwall he was never without his magnifying
eye glass, particularly when walking the coastal paths or on picnics etc.
No doubt his Cape Town experience of working with scientists taught him
how to observe. One of his great loves in retirement was gardening. |
| 14 Feb 1968 |
75 |
Died in Cornwall, UK. |
Information supplied by Margaret Wells (A.D. Izard's
daughter).
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