SCOTT BARCHARD WILSON BITS
DIED 1923, EVERTON, HANTS
__________
https://www.google.com/search?q=scott+b+wilson+hawaii&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b
HIS SUICIDE...
Why did famed British ornithologist Scott B. Wilson commit suicide?
In late January, 1923, Scott Barchard Wilson put a gun to his head and shot himself.
The tragic act was a sorry end for Wilson described in the local newspaper as a well known authority on ornithology and the book he co-authored, Aves Hawaiienses, was said to be a standard work.
Wilson's death at his home in the tiny village of Everton in Hampshire, England was a world away from the heady days of his youth. Sponsored by the University of Cambridge, under the tutelage of Professor Alfred Newton, Wilson discovered a dozen new bird species during an 18-month tour of the Hawaiian Islands.
On his return to England in early 1889, the petulant young Wilson had ignited the ornithological world. His discoveries spawned a grand challenge: to find the remaining birds of Hawaii before the onslaught of food crops and new predators hurtled the birdlife into extinction.
Wilson also managed to trade some very rare duplicate bird specimens from Charles R. Bishop whom had acquired Hilo businessman J. D. Mills's famed collection of birds from the Big Island of Hawai i. The trade included the Mamo, Kioea, Hawaiian Rail and ula-ai-hawane and was a major coup for University of Cambridge and subsequently, Tring.
Akiapol au Hemignathus wilsoni (Roths). Type, mount. Male juvenile.
Caught by Scott B. Wilson on Hawaii, March, 1888.
Cat. 27/Dre/3/c/10 Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, England. Photo by author.
Wilson published his book in seven parts, issued to subscribers over a dozen years. His bird monographs are detailed and thoughtful perhaps none more-so than his exhaustive research on the elepaio. The tiny flycatcher exhibited subtle plumage differences dependent on habitat and climate in locales across the islands. Wilson identified and named Chasiempis gayi as one of three forms of elepaio that still remain valid to science today.
Elepaio Chasiempis gayi (Wils). Male. Caught by R.C.L. Perkins on Oahu, March, 1892.
Cat. 27/Mus/7/6/6, Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, England. Photo by author.
The little known details of Wilson's death are on a single roll of microfilm lying in a cardboard box in Lymington Library. Wilson's inquest made front page news in the local community a flurry of grisly details captured in several column inches. Yet for me, a battle with an archaic microfiche reader came close to retaining the story's obscurity.
With sheets of paper taped atop the projector to shield the fluorescent glare of the overhead lights, the text that surfaced on the screen resembled a smattering of insect droppings. As one hand held a magnifying glass and my other hand tapped a laptop keyboard in a slow drum beat, the drama of Wilson's final days began to surface.
First we meet Wilson's sister, Alice, the confidante he desperately sought. He d sent a letter-card from Brockenhurst, saying I have been wandering the forest all day. I am up against a stone wall. You have been the staunchest of sisters.
A week after he d sent the letter-card to Alice, Wilson had taken his wife, Aimee, to a motor-bus. Aimee was going away for a visit and thought that Scott had appeared quite himself in every way he was generally of a very cheerful disposition.
Yet we learn from the Inquest that Alice had a different view of Scott; he was very subject to extremes, was easily depressed over quite trivial matters and was always abnormally sensitive.
The turmoil that unfolds shows a man greatly troubled by financial disarray; he d told Alice that everything had gone wrong, that he d lost a lot of money due to failed investments. A couple of months earlier, Alice thought that Scott had appeared very ill and depressed after the death of a very great friend in South Africa.
Alice had promptly lent Scott a sizeable sum of money to relieve his burden. She'd also agreed to travel from Weybridge to see him the day after Aimee had departed.
The visit would prove too late.
To me, the newspaper report and Inquest sketches the inner workings of a man that cannot be found in his upbeat musings on the fabulous birds of Hawai i and the many people and places he encountered. It does, however, give us a hint of the dark undertones that surrounded his dealings with Sir Walter Rothschild, the Cambridge Professor Alfred Newton and fellow bird collectors, Henry Palmer and R.C.L. Perkins.
Akekee Kaua i Akepa Loxops caeruleirostris (Wils). Male.
Collected by R.C.L. Perkins on Kaua i, April, 1895. Cat. ZMB 68/25.
Museum Fur Naturkunde, Berlin. Photo by author.
After two hours of study had elapsed, I discovered that the printer printed almost blank pages, if not for a gritty smudge. I was corralled by three people hugging folders crammed with crumpled papers, their huffs rising about the hush of the library. To most of the gathering the researcher from London had had his fair share of time on the time machine, despite a reservation made a couple of weeks prior.
Now I felt that I knew Wilson better than most. The newspaper article was more than a tragic tale. It was a retrospective link to the character of Scott B. Wilson, son of the founder of Wisley Gardens and Price's Candles. Wilson lived within the shadow of high expectations and duly tasted early success in life; a success that could never be bettered, despite his constant attempts to recreate the fame and the adulation in which he'd once basked. The many written asides and slurs which are evident in the writings of Newton and Rothschild attest to Scott's struggle to maintain his status while often defending his theories and accomplishments.
And now I'm left with a quirky, grotesque visual of the intrepid explorer of remote rainforests lying dead in his pyjamas, a revolver by his side.
Discover more about Scott B. Wilson's Hawaii expeditions, Walter Rothschild, Alfred Newton, R.C.L Perkins and Henry Palmer in Killing Paradise, Palmer's Paradise and Still Paradise, now available on Amazon in paperback and eBook:
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References
Mearns, Richard, Barbara Mearns. Audubon to Xantus, 1992, p327-330.
Lymington & South Hants Chronicle. 25 January, 1923. P1, column 7. Found Shot. Shocking Discovery at Everton. [FIND THIS SOURCE?]
VanderWerf, Eric A. Ecogeographic Patterns of Morphological Variation in Elepaios (Chasiempis spp.): Bergmann s, Allen s, and Gloger's Rules in a Microcosm. Ornithological Monographs Number 73. American Ornitholigists Union. 2012.
Esposito, A. R., 2010. Personal observations of Hawaiian avian taxa at Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, England. Unpub.).
Esposito, A. R., 2015. Personal observations of Hawaiian avian taxa at Museum Fur Naturkunde, Berlin.(Unpub.).
Esposito, A.R. 2013. Esposito, A.R. 2013. An evaluation of the death of British ornithologist, Scott Barchard Wilson.(unpub.)
Permission kindly granted by Museum of Zoology, Cambridge for use of the specimen images taken by the author at the museum. No permission is granted for reproduction of images for commercial ventures.
Permission kindly granted by Museum Fur Naturkunde, Berlin for use of the specimen image taken by the author at the museum. No permission is granted for reproduction of images for commercial ventures.
About Birdwriter
I've been writing since a teenager. It's taken decades, but I have finally found my vocation with endangered species and the lessons learnt from extinction. I don't really like museums - I much prefer zoological gardens and wildlife sanctuaries. But sometimes museums are all that we have left. There are some special people out there making a difference for the world where our children will grow old. I've been lucky enough to meet some of them and listen to their stories of success and hope.
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