Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell (1866-1948) - Eccentric Entomologist, humanitarian
(My Great-Great Uncle).

The oldest Son of Alice Elizabeth (Bennet) and Sydney John Cockerell. Born in Norwood, England.

Aged twenty, he went out to Colorado with the hope that the climate would cure his tuberculosis. His well-heeled school friend Payn (who turned out to be an insensitive, gambling morphine addict), was also tubercular and paid for his travel. They drifted apart after a few months of arriving in Colorado.

"Cockerell speaks to us from not only the frontiers of Colorado and the Victorian era, but also from the spirit of one galvanized by a passion for nature, beauty, and understanding. Today we lament the loss of naturalists as our biota is ravaged. Here Weber has resurrected Cockerell's vivid accounts; perhaps we may learn anew from a master's hand and before our flora and fauna vanishes."

Frederick's sister Anne was Theo’s sweetheart but they had been forbidden to write to each other by Annie’s father because of Theo’s lack of prospects, ill health and dodgy socialist leanings...after the first year or so of Fredrick and Theo’s correspondence Anne’s father relented and allowed Annie to receive letters from him.

When Theo returned to England he was given a job at the British Museum and married Anne in 1891. With thanks to Alfred Russell Wallace (the famous naturalist and evolutionary theorist) who had befriended him, he took the job of curator of the public museum of Kingston, Jamaica.

Theo Cockerell was said to be a key figure in the introduction of Darwinian theory to American science. He wrote more than 2200 articles in scientific journals, was especially fond of bees, slugs and snails…”I was especially fond of slugs, which many people regard with extreme disfavor, but which are, in fact graceful and often beautiful creatures …”

He wrote works on paleontology and evolutionary theory, and published over 1700 articles on other subjects, such as social reform and education. “He was one of the most prolific taxonomists in history”, classifying and describing over 9,000 species of bugs, some 6,400 of which were bees, and some 1,000 molluscs, arachnids, fungi, mammals, fish and plants. He described more than 900 species in Colorado alone!

His brother Douglas once said of him, ‘He was never deterred by the possession of only half a lung and corresponding resources, from going, if he heard of a fossil flea 10,000 years old calling him to Siberia to collect it. He was at Yokohama, on his way home from Siberia with an important collection of bees, when the great earthquake occurred, and it was characteristic of him that he cabled home to anxious relations, ‘Bees safe, Theo’.

One of the most colourful members appointed to the University of Colorado faculty in 1904 was Dr. Theodore D.A. "Daddy" Cockerell, a well-known naturalist specializing in entomology. He was said to have been the greatest authority on bees and wasps in the world at that time. His students enjoyed his lively lectures where he would write with both hands on the chalk board at the same time. He stood out among the faculty for wearing brightly colored neckties.

Died January 26, 1948
 

Further reading:
Article in The Journal of Young Investigators  - www.jyi.org/features/ft.php?id=598 - Dec 6th 2008

The Valley of the Second Sons: Letters of Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, a Young English Naturalist, Writing to His Sweetheart and Her Brother...Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado 1887-1890 - William A. Weber (Editor)

The American Cockerell: A Naturalist's Life, 1866-1948 - William A. Weber and Theodore D. A. Cockerell