William Lutley Sclater

Infobox Person
name = William Lutley Sclater


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1863|09|23
birth_place =
death_date = death date and age|1944|07|07|1863|09|23
death_place = London
education = Keble College
occupation = zoologist; museum director
spouse = Charlotte Mellen Stephenson
parents = Philip Lutley Sclater
children =

William Lutley Sclater (September 23, 1863 - July 7, 1944) was a British zoologist and museum director. He was the son of Philip Lutley Sclater, and was named after his paternal grandfather, also William Lutley Sclater.

Sclater received his Master of Arts degree in Natural Science from Keble College at Oxford in 1885. He worked as the deputy superintendent of the Indian Museum in Calcutta from 1887 until 1891, when he joined the science faculty of Eton College.

It was at Eton that he met his future wife, Charlotte Mellen Stephenson, an American divorcée whose two sons attended the school. The two were married in London in 1896, shortly after which they moved to Cape Town, South Africa. Here, Sclater took up the position of curator at the South African Museum, whose collections he reorganised and moved into a new facility. During his time in South Africa, he continued his scientific writings, including completion of the work "Flora and Fauna of South Africa". He also completed the four volume series "The Birds of South Africa" begun by Dr Arthur Stark, the five volume "Birds of Africa" started by Captain George Shelley and "The birds of Kenya colony and the Uganda protectorate" started by Sir Frederick John Jackson.

In 1906, following a dispute with the Museum's board of trustees, Sclater resigned as curator and traveled with his wife throughout Africa before settling in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which had been founded by Charlotte's brother-in-law, General William Jackson Palmer. Palmer offered Sclater a small estate outside the city and a professorship at Colorado College. When the general died in 1909, the couple returned to England, where Sclater became curator of the Bird Room at the Natural History Museum. He worked there until his death in 1944.

In 1912, Sclater published "A History of the Birds of Colorado" in two volumes. During the Great War, he volunteered for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association. Both his stepsons were killed in action during the war. Sclater was editor of " Ibis" from 1913 to 1930, editor of the Zoological Record from 1921 to 1937, president of the British Ornithologists' Union from 1928 to 1933, and secretary of the Royal Geographical Society from 1931 to 1943. In 1919 and 1920, he and his wife traveled around the globe.

In 1942, Charlotte died of injuries sustained during the bombing of London. Two years later, William Sclater was killed by a V-1 flying bomb in London.

References

* Ness, Cheye M. "William and Charlotte Sclater: Witnesses of World Change". 22 March 1995.

External links

* [http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/SCLA1863.htm Chrono-Biographical Sketch: William Lutley Sclater ] at www.wku.edu
* [http://www.iziko.org.za/sam/muse/hist/sclater.html Iziko south african museum: William Lutley Sclater ] at www.iziko.org.za