Frederick Augustus Dixey

Frederick Augustus Dixey, FRS^[1] (9 December 1855 – 16 January 1935) was president of the Royal Entomological Society of London, and was a distinguished British entomologist.^[2]

Frederick Dixey was educated at Highgate School from 1867 to 1874, and was later a governor of the school from 1920 until his death.^[3] He won a scholarship to Wadham College, Oxford, where after starting in optometry, the profession of his father and grandfather, he chose to read medicine. He became a fellow of Wadham^[4] and also the sub-warden. He felt drawn to the Church of St Barnabas, Oxford, known for its Anglo-Catholic tradition and ceremonies; he sang in the choir for nearly forty years.^{[citation needed]} Dixey never practised medicine, but devoted himself to natural history. He was in March 1900 nominated to be a curator of the Hope collections at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.^[5] He was an expert on the "white" butterflies, Pieridae.

Dixey was an early supporter of Darwinian evolution who defended natural selection against anti-Darwinians.^[1]^[6]

Dixey was knocked down and killed by a car in 1935 as he attempted to cross the road.^[1]

Dixey's son, Harold Giles Dixey (1893–1974), assistant master at the Dragon School in Oxford,^[4] was a writer.

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Poulton, E. B. (1935). "Frederick Augustus Dixey. 1855-1935". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 1 (4): 465–474. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1935.0010.
^ Dobson, J. (1951). "Frederick Augustus Dixey" (PDF). The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. British Volume. 33B (2): 275–277. doi:10.1302/0301-620X.33B2.275. PMID 14832332. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2007.
^ Ed. Boreham, J.Y. Highgate School Register 1838-1938 (4th ed.). pp. xxi, 55.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Collection Level Description: Dixey Family Papers". Oxford: Bodleian Library. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
^ "University intelligence". The Times (36089). London. 14 March 1900. p. 6.
^ "Frederick Augustus Dixey, 1855-1935". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 1 (4): 465–474. 1935. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1935.0010.