Joseph Whitaker (ornithologist)

Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker (12 July 1850 - May 27 May 1932) was an English ornithologist, archaeologist and sportsman. He is mainly known for his work on the birds of Tunisia, and for being involved in the foundation of the Sicilian football club U.S. Città di Palermo.

Biography

Whitaker's family came from prominent Yorkshire origins [ [http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmricha/id45.htm Whitaker Family] ] . The Whitaker family [ [http://www.couchgenweb.com/whitaker/abraham2.htm CouchGenWeb - Whitaker] ] were wealthy 19th century tycoons from West Yorkshire, who had developed the fortified wine industry in Marsala, Sicily during 1806, many members of the Whitaker family had moved to Sicily permanently.

Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker's parents were Mary Randall and the man whom he was named after; Joseph Whitaker. The family was large, he had brothers and sisters; William Whitaker, Mary Ann Whitaker, Helen Elizabeth Whitaker, Edith Whitaker and May Whitaker. [ [http://www.geocities.com/whittakergen/joe.htm Whitaker] ]

Inheritence of the Vineyard Empire

He inherited vast vineyards and his great grandfather Ingham's banking empire. Choosing Palermo over the more provincial Marsala, he built the "Villa Malfitano", an Italian Art Nouveau mansion near Zisa Castle on the Via Dante after his marriage to Tina Scalia. Tina was the daughter of General Alfonso Scalia who landed in Sicily with Giuseppe Garibaldi during the years leading up to the Risorgimento. They had two daughters; the elder of which married General Antonio Di Giorgio an Italian Minister of War. Thus the family was firmly established in the upper echelons of Italian Society.

In these years, the Belle Époque age, the house was the venue for lavish parties attended by British and Italian royalty. Tina Whitaker knew Richard Wagner, Benito Mussolini, the Kaiser and Edward VII , Empress Eugenie and Queen Mary. Attracted by homosexual company, she unwittingly found herself in a circle involved in the Irish Crown Jewels scandal.

Whitaker himself was founder and president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Palermo. Also he was a prime factor in the foundation of U.S. Città di Palermo in the later 1880s, a football team who he was the first president of.

Birds

In 1891 already a very keen ornithologist Whitaker joined the British Ornithologists' Union.Collecting expeditions to Tunisia followed. These extended over a period of ten years (1894-1904). Notebooks kept at the time contain information on the natural history of the birds as well as other fauna and also the flora of Tunisia.

The Tunisian bird and bird nest and egg collection was housed in a villa in the grounds of his home “Malfitano” alongside a very complete collection of Sicilian birds and collections made on his behalf by Edward Dobson in Morocco. To these were added specimens of birds from the Mediterranean littoral.

Some of Whitaker's collection of Tunisian birds are in the Natural History Museum, London. The Sicilian birds are divided between the Royal Scottish Museum (bird skins) and the Ulster Museum (bird mounts, eggs and nests).

Gallery of Birds in the Whitaker Collection

Egyptian Nightjar"
Baillon's Crake"
Great Bustard"
Glossy Ibis"
Eurasian Wryneck"
Eurasian Thick-knee"
Egyptian Vulture"
White-winged Snowfinch"
Spotted Sandgrouse"
Wall Creeper"
White-winged Tern"
Short-toed Snake Eagle"
Rustic Bunting"
Rosy Starling"
Rock Partridge"
Rock Bunting"
Greater Spotted Eagle"
Grey-headed Woodpecker"
Red-footed Falcon"
Red Crossbill"
Pallid Harrier"
Middle Spotted Woodpecker"
Long-tailed Tit"
Little Crake"
Cirl Bunting"
Black Woodpecker"

Archaeology

Whitaker devoted the last years of his life to archaeology, purchasing the island of Motya near Trapani the site of a Phoenician townfounded in the eight century BC. He wrote a book on his excavations in 1921. The site may be explored (online) using the Motya link.

Death

cquote|Joseph Whitaker, a naturalist, a sportsman and above all, loved his England and his God withwhom he was constantly in touch through His creations.Died May 27, 1932, Age 81. [ [http://www.decoymans.freeserve.co.uk/Joseph.htm Decoymans] ]

::::::::::::::::::::-- Toddy Chaney (Granddaughter of Joseph Whitaker)

Works

*Notes on some Tunisian birds. "Ibis" 78-100, map. 1894.
*Additional notes on Tunisian birds. "Ibis" 85 -106 , map. 1895.
*Further notes on Tunisian birds. "Ibis" 87 -99 , map. 1896.
*On "Turnox sylvatica" in Sicily "Ibis" 290-291.1896.
*Exhibition of skins of "Sturnix unicolor" from Morocco . "Bull. Brit.Orn.Club" vol.vii.pxvii (p 155 of Ibis 1898). 1897
*Description of Two new species , "Garrulus ornops",sp. nov., and "Rhodopechys alicna", sp. nov. "Bull. Brit.Orn.Club" vol.vii.pxvii 1897.
*Further notes on Tunisian birds "Ibis" 125-132. 1898.
*On the Grey Shrikes of Tunisia "Ibis" 288-231.1898.
*On a collection of birds from Morocco with descriptions of "Lanius algieriensis" dodsoni, subsp. nov. (p.599) and of "Octocorys atlas" (p.xiii) "Ibis" 592-610.1898.
*Description of a new Chat, "Saxicola caterinae" , sp. nov., from Algeria and Morocco, and a new crossbill, "Loxia curvirostra poliogyna", subsp. nov. , from Tunisia "Ibis" 624-625. 1898.
*Description of a new species of Shore-Lark, "Otocorys atlas", from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. "Bull. Brit. Orn. Club". Vol.vii, p.xlvii (p 432 of "Ibis") 1898.
*On an Abnormal nest of Ardea cinerea "Bull. Brit. Orn. Club". vol. viii, p.xxxvii. 1899.
*On the Occurrence of "Caprimulgus aeggptius" at Palermo "Ibis" 475-476.
*"The Birds of Tunisia", 2 Vols. Pp. xxxii, 294; xviii, 410, 17 full page plates of which 15 are handcoloured after Grönvold, 2 photograv., 1 clr folding map. London, 1st edition. Edition limited to 250 copies only. 1905
*"Motya - A Phoenician Colony in Sicily", London. Yorke RA & Davidson 1921.

References

External links

* [http://web.tiscali.it/fondazionewhitaker/iwhitaker/birds/birds.htm Italian site with pictures from Birds of Tunisia]
* [http://web.tiscali.it/fondazionewhitaker/iwhitaker/jiwhitaker/joswhit.htm Italian site on Whitaker]