Leslie Desmond Foster Vesey-Fitzgerald

Who was Leslie Desmond Foster Vesey-Fitzgerald?

Leslie Desmond Edward Foster Vesey-Fitzgerald MBE, was an Irish-born entomologist, ornithologist, conservationist, and plant collector.

In 1930 Vesey-Fitzgerald graduated to Bachelor of Science at the Wye Agricultural College of the London University. In 1932 he became Associate of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad. From 1933 to 1936 he conducted research work on biological control of insect pests on sugar cane in Brazil, British Guiana and the British West Indies. From 1936 to 1939 he did research on biological control of insect pests on coconut palms in the Seychelles, Madagascar and the coastal East Africa. In 1938 he married Rosalinda Octavia Hindson. From 1939 to 1941 he was entomologist at the Rubber Research Institute in Malaya.

From 1941 to 1942 he served with the Federal Malay States Volunteers. From 1942 to 1947 he worked as entomologist at the Middle East Anti Locust Unit in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Oman. From 1947 to 1949 he was senior assistant game warden in Kenya. From 1949 to 1964 he worked as Senior Scientific Officer at the Anti-Locust Research Centre in Abercorn, Northern Rhodesia. .