George Charles Champion

Who was George Charles Champion?

George Charles Champion was an English entomologist specialising in the study of beetles. He was the eldest son of George Champion.

Encouraged by J. Platt-Barret, G C Champion began collecting beetles when he was 16. Champion's initial work was mainly in the Home Counties. Recognized as a serious coleopterist, he accepted a post as collector for Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin to work on Biologia Centrali-Americana. Champion left England in February 1879 for Guatemala, where he arrived on 16 March. Then commenced four years of journeys and intensive collecting, which are described in a series of articles he wrote to the Entomologists' Monthly Magazine. Successful as a collector, he returned to England in 1883 with 15,000 species of insects. A former watchmaker, he was employed by Godman and Salvin as a secretary, and he saw through the press the 52 volumes of the Biologia. Champion also prepared the Coleoptera sections for publication and wrote the volumes and parts covering the Heteromera, the Elateridae and Dascillidae, the Cassidinae, and Curculionidae. He described more than 4,000 species new to science in this work.