Person

French, Charles (1842 - 1933)

Born
10 September 1842
Lewisham, Kent, England
Died
21 May 1933
Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Naturalist, Nurseryman and Entomologist

Summary

Charles French was a nurseryman who spent his early career in the Melbourne nurseries of James Scott, Alex Bodie and Joseph Harris. He joined the staff of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens in 1865 as a propagator, specialising in native ferns and orchids. French was also an expert on insects, leading to his appointment as Government Entomologist in 1889. This position was created in the Department of Agriculture to investigate the native and introduced insect pests ravaging Victoria's agricultural crops. French was considered to be the founder of economic entomology in Victoria. His first paper in this field, published in the Department's annual report in 1874, was on timber-boring insects. French also published the landmark A handbook of the destructive insects of Victoria in five volumes between 1891 and 1911. From 1896 he had responsibility the for standardised spraying program for fruit trees. French was a founding member of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and regularly published in the Club's journal, the Victorian naturalist. In 1908 the National Museum of Victoria purchased his collection of over 3,000 insects, mostly Coleoptera. The National Herbarium of Victoria holds over 1,000 specimens collected by French.

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Details

Chronology

1852
Life event - Arrived in Victoria with his family
1858
Career event - Apprenticed to nurserman James Scott (Hawthorn)
1865 - 1884
Career position - Propagator, Melbourne Botanic Garden
1880 - 1933
Career position - Foundation Member, Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria
1884 - 1889
Career position - Herbarium Assistant, Botanical Museum of Melbourne
1889 - 1908
Career position - Government Entomologist, Victorian Department of Agriculture
1908
Life event - Retired

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Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Baldwin Spencer - Records, 1880 - 1929, ML MSS 29; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Edward Pearson Ramsay - Records, 1860 - 1912, ML MSS 563; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture, Burnley

  • Charles (2) French - Records, 1891 - 1920; Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture, Burnley. Details

Published resources

Books

  • French, C., A handbook of the destructive insects of Victoria : with notes on the methods to be adopted to check and extirpate them, 5 vols (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1891-1911). Details
  • Musgrave, A., Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930: with biographical notes on authors and collectors (Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1932), 380 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Pescott, R. T. M., 'French, Charles (1842-1933) and Charles Hamilton (1868-1950)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 585-586. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080602b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • French, C.; and Barnard, F. G. A., 'Notes on a holiday tour in Riverina and western Victoria [parts 1-2]', The Victorian naturalist, 3 (1886), 147-57, 170-2. Details
  • French, C.; and Barnard, F. G. A., 'Notes on a holiday tour in Riverina and western Victoria [part 3]', The Victorian naturalist, 4 (1887), 9-14. Details
  • Hogan, T. W., 'The History of Economic Entomology in Victoria from the Time of Charles French', Journal of the Australian Entomological Society, 33 (3) (1994), 279-288. Details
  • Malipatil, Mallik B.; Sermeraro, Linda; and New, Tim R., 'Review and update of the nomenclature of arthropods discussed by Charles French in his work A handbook of the destructive insects of Victoria', The Victorian naturalist, 138 (5) (2021), 128-44. Details
  • Pescott, E.E., 'Charles French', The Victorian naturalist, 50 (7) (1933), 57-60. Details

Resources

See also

  • Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
  • Willis, J. H., 'Botanical pioneers in Victoria - II', Victorian Naturalist, 66 (6) (1949), 103-9. Details
  • Willis, J. H., Botanical Pioneers in Victoria, vol. 66 ([Melbourne]: [Brown Prior Anderson], 1949), 19 pp. Details

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 18 June 2024

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