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THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Obituary
JOSEPH ROSS, 1873-1962
Joseph Ross who was elected to Honorary Membership of the
Club in 1952 was of Scottish descent, his father coming from
Edinburgh, his mother from Cupar, Fife. He was born on 8th
May 1873, at Banbury, Oxfordshire, where his father was chief
reporter on the Banbury Guardian. Following the death of his
mother during his childhood, his early years were spent at Cupar
where he was brought up by his Aunt Janet. He started work
by following his father's footsteps as a reporter on the Banbury
Guardian, transferring to Oxford and later to Cambridge where
he continued his journalistic career on the Cambridge Daily News.
After a further period at Oxford he eventually settled in London
in 1908 on the editorial staff of the Investors Guardian in com-
pany with one of his former colleagues of his Cambridge days.
This colleague also introduced him to the Wood family at Ching-
ford with whom he resided as a paying guest. Upon the death
of Mrs. Wood he continued with her son and daughter-in-law
until his death, in all, a period of well over 50 years. He re-
mained a bachelor.
A few years after he removed to London and during a holiday
spent in North Wales with his family he was prevailed upon by
his relatives to see a doctor who diagnosed tuberculosis. As a
result of this condition he spent some three months in a sana-
torium in Gloucestershire which, although greatly improving his
health, resulted in his contracting pneumonia during his convales-
cence at Banbury. During the ensuing illness he was absent from
his work for twelve months, but the need for being in the open
air under the treatment accorded at that time resulted in his
taking a keen interest in natural history. He joined the Essex
Field Club on 25th January 1913, as a life member, and soon
took a quiet, although active, part in its work. During the First
World War he studied bryophytes and mycetozoa, the latter
under the guidance of the late Miss G. Lister, and in 1918 he
published two items in The Essex Naturalist dealing with both
aspects of his studies.
He was also a member of the London Natural History Society
where, in company with two other members, he investigated the
life histories of the Cynipid flies causing galls on oaks. As the
result of their researches this team were able to establish the true
alternate generations of two species of gall causers. In addition,
Ross carried out investigations into the occurrences of the associ-
ated Synergi which are Inquilines in the galls caused by the
Cynipidae. He was able to establish that of seven different
species recorded in this country, no less than four of them were
only seasonal varieties of the remaining three, thus clarifying a
complex situation which had caused some confusion in the minds
of other workers in this subject.