Charles George Nurse


Charles George Nurse FES was an English military officer, naturalist, ornithologist and entomologist. He was one of many British military officers who made significant contributions to knowledge of the natural history of India. Among his discoveries were a snake, a butterfly, an ant, and a neuropteran. About 50 species of moths that he collected were described by entomologists G. Hampson and Lord Walsingham. Entomologists P. Cameron and Col. C. T. Bingham described 200 species of Hymenoptera from his collections. Nurse also discovered the species of mosquito, Anopheles nursei, later shown to carry the malarial parasite that affected the army campaigns in Mesopotamia.

Life and career

Charles George Nurse was born on 22 March 1862 in Barnham, Suffolk, the eldest son of Rev. George Thompson Nurse, of Barnham and Euston, and Martha Aspland Nurse. He went to school at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds, before joining the Royal Military Academy. A linguist with a sound knowledge of Russian, Hindustani and several Oriental languages, he advanced rapidly in his chosen career.
He lived at "Redcote", Rustwick, Rusthall Park after retirement and was a member of the Tunbridge Wells and Counties Clubs. He died of acute pneumonia on 5 November 1933 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and was buried at Rusthall New Cemetery.

Natural history

Nurse had a lifelong interest in birds and, as many naturalists did, collected butterflies and moths. His interest deepened after Lord Walsingham and George Hampson published "On Moths Collected at Aden and in Somaliland" in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London in 1896. This article was based on Nurse's specimens and species new to science were described. Nurse later widened his interest to other orders of insects, especially Hymenoptera. At this time, Indian Hymenoptera were neglected. Nurse described many new species and added greatly to knowledge of the group. Many Nurse Hymenoptera specimens were described by Charles Thomas Bingham, Peter Cameron, and Claude Morley in The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma.
At Quetta, Nurse discovered the species of mosquito, Anopheles nursei, which was later shown to carry the malarial parasite.

Collections

Most of Nurse's Lepidoptera collection from Aden, Baluchistan, and Somaliland was acquired by James John Joicey in 1919.
He presented his entire collection of over 10,000 Indian Hymenoptera specimens to the Natural History Museum, London, in 1920.
Nurse also bequested a collection of 3,000 Indian insects to the Natural History Museum.
By the will of the late Lieut.-Col. C. G. Nurse, the Trustees of the British Museum have received a bequest of 3,000 Indian insects mostly obtained at Quetta, Deesa and Jubbulpore, where Col. Nurse served with the Indian Army. Col. Nurse was one of the small band of naturalists among military officers who devoted their leisure to the study of entomology, and was an enthusiastic collector of Hymenoptera, forming a large and valuable collection which he presented to the Museum a few years ago. The present bequest comprises the remainder of his Indian insects and includes about 1,450 Diptera, 1,300 butterflies, 130 dragon-flies and some others; of these the most valuable are the Diptera. The collection is especially rich in species of the family Bombyliidae, most of which are parasitic in the larval state on bees or wasps. Col. Nurse discovered and described fourteen species of this family which were new to science, and types of these are in the collection, as well as specimens of a number of other flies which were not previously represented in the Museum. Some interesting butterflies and other insects from Aden are included. – Nature, 1934.

Societies

Nurse was a member of the Bombay Natural History Society. He was elected a fellow of the Entomological Society of London in 1895 and a special life fellow in 1932.

Eponyms

A species of snake, Leptotyphlops nursii, was named in his honor, as were the following insects:
Elis nursei, Glypta nursei, Melcha nursei, Xylota nursei, Chrysis nursei.

Works

Partial list illustrating the diversity of Nurse's natural history interests: