Henry Doubleday

Who was Henry Doubleday?

Henry Doubleday was an English entomologist and ornithologist.

Henry Doubleday was the eldest son of Quaker and grocer Benjamin Doubleday and his wife Mary of Epping, Essex. He and his brother Edward Doubleday spent their childhood collecting natural history specimens in Epping Forest. He lived at the same time as his cousin Henry Doubleday the scientist and horticulturist. There is a blue plaque to him at the corner of High St and Buttercross Lane, Epping.

He was the author of the first catalogue of British butterflies and moths, Synonymic List of the British Lepidoptera. He named a number of new species of moth, including Pigmy Footman, Ashworth's Rustic and the Marsh Oblique-barred. His moth collection remains intact at the Natural History Museum.