Gervase Frederick Mathew

Who was Gervase Frederick Mathew?

Gervase Frederick Mathew was an English naval officer and entomologist.

Gervase Mathew was born in Barnstaple and educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and Blundell's School He entered the Royal Navy as Assistant Clerk 12 December 1860, was promoted to Assistant Paymaster 15 February 1865, then to Paymaster 9 February 1879 and retired as Paymaster-in-Chief 11 February 1902. One of his early appointments was to the Warrior, the first British ironclad.

He was sometime based in the Mediterranean then at Sydney and in Fiji and travelled extensively in the central Pacific. He introduced Edward Meyrick to the fauna of the central Pacific islands. Gervase Mathew was a Fellow of the Entomological Society of London the Zoological Society of London and the Linnean Society.

His collection and Types were sold to Godman and are now in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. His works include:

⁕List of Lepidoptera forwarded to Edward Newman Entomologist 7:62-66

⁕Life history of Papilio archidamas Entomologist's monthly Magazine 14: 152-153

⁕List of Lepidoptera observed in the neighbourhood of Gallipoli Turkey, in 1878. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 18: 10-13, 29-32, 92-