Seth Lister Mosley FES (1848–1929) was an English naturalist, ornithologist and curator who lived in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Born into a working-class family, he had little in the way of formal education.
Seth Lister Mosley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1848 |
| Died | 1929 |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Contributions to ornithology, publishing, and museology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Natural History |
Career
editHe initially worked as a painter-decorator before becoming an independent professional naturalist in 1877,[1] going on to become one of the most prominent British naturalists in the late nineteenth century. He was an early advocate for bird conservation and wrote publicly against the shooting of birds for museum displays.[2]
He was one of Britain's first independent museologists and visited a substantial number of museums across the country (including the Natural History Museum, London, observing their natural history collections, and providing educational resources.[3] He was also a lecturer for the National Secular Society.
He ran several private museums in Huddersfield before being appointed curator of the collections at Huddersfield Technical College. He was appointed the Soppitt Curator by the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union following the death of Henry Thomas Soppitt in 1899.[4] and became the first curator at Huddersfield's Tolson Museum in 1922.[3]
Publications
editHe was also the editor and primary contributor of several prominent national popular science publications including The Naturalist's Journal and theYoung Naturalist.[5]
Legacy
editIn 2022, a book was published on entitled Nature’s Missionary: Seth Lister Mosley – Naturalist, Museum Curator And Mystic. Written by the Huddersfield historian Alan Brooke, the book marked the first major academic work on Seth Lister Mosley.[6] The book was long-listed for the 2024 SHNH Natural History Book Prize (John Thackray Medal).[7]
A children's book based on his life, entitled The Boy who Dreamt a Museum, was also published.[8]
References
edit- ^ Banham, Christopher (2009). "Natural History in the Periodical Literature of Victorian Working Class Boys". Childhood in the Past. 2 (1): 132–150. doi:10.1179/cip.2009.2.1.132. S2CID 142440094. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ Brooke, Alan (15 December 2014). "Seth Lister Mosley and the Early Years of the Tolson Museum". undergroundhistories.wordpress.com. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ a b Hilary Haigh, E.A. (1992). Huddersfield: A Most Handsome Town. Kirklees Cultural Services. ISBN 9780900746529.
- ^ Smith, Nathan (November 2020). "Provincial mycology and the legacy of Henry Thomas Soppitt (1858–1899) (W. T. Stearn Prize 2019)". Archives of Natural History. 47 (2): 219–235. doi:10.3366/anh.2020.0650. S2CID 229475502. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
- ^ Mordavsky Caleb, Amanda (2007). (Re)creating Science in Nineteenth-Century Britain: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 330. ISBN 978-1847182203.
- ^ Brooke, Alan (2022). Nature's Missionary: Seth Lister Mosley – Naturalist, Museum Curator And Mystic. Huddersfield Local History Society.
- ^ "Announcing the 2024 SHNH Natural History Book Prize longlist (Thackray Medal)". www.shnh.org.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ Smith, Nathan; Alienor, de La Chapelle; Brooke, Alan (2022). The Boy who Dreamt a Museum. Friends of Tolson Museum.