THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
117
In the absence of the President, Mr. W. E. Glegg, a vice-president of
the Club, took the chair.
Mr. Crouch exhibited several road-maps, including the 1720 (first)
edition of Britannia Depicta, or Ogilby Improved : John Ogilby was cosmo-
grapher to King Charles II, and his original Britannia appeared in 1675
and a second edition in 1698, the latter being exhibited. Mr. Crouch also
showed the first edition (1790) of Cary's Survey of High Roads from London.
An interesting feature of Ogilby's maps is that they indicate the gibbet
from which the name "Gallows Corner," between Romford and Brent-
wood, is taken.
The Curator exhibited a tinted photograph, and various letters and
other documents, relating to Henry Doubleday, the Epping naturalist ;
in illustration of his exhibit he read the following account of Doubleday:—
HENRY DOUBLEDAY.
In the early years of the 19th century there were born to one Benjamin
Doubleday, a Quaker grocer of Epping, two sons, the elder, Henry, born
in 1808, and the younger, Edward, born in 1811. Both the boys were
brought up to the father's business ; each was destined to become widely
known—not, however, as a grocer but as a naturalist. Edward, indeed,
early left home and travelled abroad, becoming on his return a member of
the staff of the British Museum. His chief interest lay in the study of
insects, and he became secretary to the Entomological Society, but died
in 1849 while still under 40 years of age.
My exhibit today deals with the elder brother, Henry, who remained
throughout his life (he lived until 1875) a retail grocer in the Epping High
Street, yet managed, in spite of the demands of his shop, to find time
to collect specimens in the nearby Forest, and to form a large collection
of birds, which he stuffed and mounted himself. In his work, both that
of his trade and the amassing of his natural history collections, he was
helped by a trusted and like-minded assistant, James English, and we
may envisage the two enthusiasts, master and man, alternately "minding
the shop," while the other scoured the surrounding country for specimens
of lepidoptera, bird's eggs, etc., or tended the garden. Henry Doubleday
wrote various short articles on insects and birds ; his magnum opus being
a "Synonymic List of British Lepidoptera," comprising nearly 2,100
species, a copy of which I exhibit.
Doubleday had many scientific correspondents : the few letters now
exhibited include some from Edward Newman (the well-known ento-
mologist), George Loddiges (of Hackney), H. W. Bates (author of the
Naturalist on the Amazons), and Thos. Dix.
In 1870 a pecuniary crisis compelled him a year later to sell his bird
collection (which fetched in all about £266), a loss which temporarily
clouded his mind : but by the generous help of friends he was enabled to
retain his Lepidoptera and books, and to end his days in the house in
which he had passed his whole life.
He was never married : a distant cousin, Ann Main, kept house for
him for nearly 30 years.
His death came on 29th June, 1875, at age 66, and he was buried in
the quiet burial-ground of the Epping Friends' Meeting House.