View source for Denis Robert Pack-Beresford

{{short description|Irish entomologist and arachnologist}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Denis Robert Pack-Beresford
| image = Denis Robert Pack-Beresford.jpg
| birth_date = 23 March 1864
| birth_place = [[Bagenalstown]], [[County Carlow]], Ireland
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1942|03|06|1864|03|23}}
| death_place = [[Bagenalstown]], Ireland
| residence =
| nationality = Irish
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Entomology]], [[Arachnology]]
| work_institution =
| alma_mater = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for =
| prizes =
| religion =
| footnotes =
| signature =
}}
'''Denis Robert Pack-Beresford''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (1864–1942) was an Irish [[entomologist]] and [[arachnologist]].
==Life==
Denis Robert Pack-Beresford was born on 23 March 1864, the son of [[Denis Pack-Beresford (politician)|Denis Pack-Beresford]] of Fenagh House, [[Bagenalstown]], County Carlow, and Annette Brown.<ref name=Lunney>{{cite book|last1=Lunney|first1=Linde|title=The Dictionary of Irish Biography|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> He was the eldest son of nine children.<ref name="The Peerage" /> His father served as MP for [[County Carlow (UK Parliament constituency)|County Carlow]] from 1862 to 1868. Pack-Beresford attended [[Rugby School]], and then [[Christ Church, Oxford]], graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1887.<ref name=Lunney />
Pack-Beresford married Alice Harriet Cromie Lyle (c.1869 – 2 June 1918) in 1891, with which he had one adopted daughter, Vera.<ref>{{cite web|title=Household Return Form (A)|url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001669937/|website=National Archives of Ireland|accessdate=27 February 2015}}</ref> Aside from his interest in zoology, Pack-Beresford became the estate owner at Fenagh House in 1881,<ref name="O'Toole">{{cite book|last1=O'Toole|first1=Jimmy|title=The Carlow Gentry – What will the neighbours say!|date=1993|publisher=Carlow Books|location=Carlow|pages=28–29}}</ref> and went on to serve as the [[High Sheriff of Carlow]], the Deputy Lieutenant, and Justice of the Peace.<ref name="The Peerage">{{cite web|title=Person Page – 27211|url=http://thepeerage.com/p27211.htm#i272103|website=The Peerage|accessdate=27 February 2015}}</ref> He was appointed an OBE in 1918.<ref name=Lunney /> He died on 6 March 1942,<ref name=Lunney /> and his estate passed to his nephew Commander Denis John Pack-Beresford.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bunbury|first1=Turtle|title=Browne Clayton of Browne's Hill, Co. Carlow |url=http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_family/hist_family_b_clayton.html |website=Turtle Bunbury |accessdate=27 February 2015}}</ref> During the First World War Denis R. Pack-Beresford served on the committee of the Order of St John and British Red Cross Society as part of the civilian war effort.<ref>http://www.stjohn.ie Reference archivist SJAI collection</ref>
==Zoological work==
Although Pack-Beresford is noted as being interested in natural history since childhood, he did not publish on the subject until 1898.<ref name=Obituary /> He is most notable for his contributions to the field of [[arachnology]] and the study of [[Woodlouse|woodlice]] and [[wasp]]s in Ireland and Britain.<ref name=Lunney /> He was a member of the [[Royal Irish Academy]] (RIA) sitting on its council, and the [[Royal Dublin Society]] (RDS) acting as hon. secretary and vice-president during his life.<ref name=Obituary>{{cite journal|last1=Praeger|first1=R.L.|last2=Stelfox|first2=A.W.|last3=Jackson|first3=A.R.|title=Denis Robert Pack-Beresford, O.B.E., D.L., M.R.I.A.|journal=The Irish Naturalists' Journal|year=1942|volume=8|issue=2|pages=38–40}}</ref> It was through his association with the RIA that he took part in its surveys of Lambay and [[Clare Island Survey|Clare Island]]. He was encouraged in his study of woodlice by [[Robert Francis Scharff|R.F. Scharff]], and [[Geoffrey Douglas Hale Carpenter|G.H. Carpenter]] to work on spiders.<ref name=Praeger>{{cite web|last1=Praeger|first1=R. Lloyd|title=Some Irish Naturalists: A Biographical Note-book|url=http://www.botanicgardens.ie/herb/books/inltos.htm|website=National Botanic Gardens of Ireland|accessdate=27 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123081153/http://www.botanicgardens.ie/herb/books/inltos.htm|archive-date=23 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Due to failing eyesight, Pack-Beresford had to give up his work towards the end of his life, as it relied heavily on the use of microscopes.<ref name=Praeger /> His zoological collections are now housed in the [[Natural History Museum (Ireland)|Natural History Museum, Dublin]] and his papers are held by the [[Royal Irish Academy]].<ref name=Obituary />
==Some published works==
*Buchanan-Wollaston, H.J. & Pack-Beresford, D.R. 1907 Contributions to a natural history of Lambay: Crustacea Arthrostraca. ''[[Irish Naturalist]]'' 16: 59
*Pack-Beresford, D.R. 1907 Contributions to a natural history of Lambay: Araneida. ''Irish Naturalist'' 16: 61–65
*Pack-Beresford, D.R., 1911 Clare Island Survey: A biological survey of Clare Island, Co. Mayo: Araneida, ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy'', Vol. XXXI, Sect. 2, Part. 35, pp.&nbsp;1–8, December 1911
*Pack-Beresford, D.R. 1929 Report on recent additions of the Irish fauna and flora. Araneida. A revision of the Irish spider list. ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy'' 39B: 41–52
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Bryan Beirne, 1985 ''Irish entomology: the first hundred years'' (special entomological supplement to Irish Naturalists’ Journal, 1985), 13
*Bonnet, P. 1945 ''Bibliographia Araneorum''. Toulouse 	54
*Harding, P.T. 1981 A handlist of the papers of Denis R. Pack Beresford at the library of the Royal Irish Academy. ''Irish Naturalists' Journal'' 20: 235–240
*Praeger, R. L. et al. 1942  [Pack-Beresford, D. R.] ''Irish Natural. J.'', Belfast 8 : 38–40
==External links==
*[http://www.habitas.org.uk/literature/ Irish Natural History Literature] partial bibliography
* {{cite TIWW |article=Pack-Beresford, Denis R. |pages=199-200 }}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pack-Beresford, Denis Robert}}
[[Category:1864 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Irish entomologists]]
[[Category:Arachnologists]]
[[Category:Irish zoologists]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Carlow]]
[[Category:Scientists from County Carlow]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Howth]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish zoologists]]