Eleanor Glanville
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Lady Eleanor Glanville (c.1654–1709) was a 17th century English entomologist from Lincolnshire. She was particularly interested in butterflies. Lady Glanville collected large numbers of butterfly specimens, many of which survive as some of the earliest specimens kept in the Natural History Museum. She would beat the hedges for "a parcel of wormes", neighbours reported.
When she died, her children attempted to overturn her will because she was thought to be insane because of her hobby.
The Glanville Fritillary butterfly is named after her.
[edit] References
- Sharman Apt Russell, An obsession with butterflies: our long love affair with a singular insect, Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2003