“The Person Herself is not Interesting”: Lucy Evelyn Cheesman's Life Dedicated to the Faunistic Exploration of the Southwest Pacific

Abstract

Lucy Evelyn Cheesman (1881-1969) was a key figure in 20th-century entomology. During both world wars, she used her fluency in German and her practical knowledge of remote New Guinea to assist allied governments; in between wars, she was the first female curator of the Insect House of the Royal Zoological Society. Her first research trip was to the Galápagos Islands (1923-1925) at age 42; her last was to Ane-ityum Island (Vanuatu) some 30 years later. She published scientific and popular literature until shortly before her death at the age of 88 and donated more than 70,000 specimens to the collections of the Natural History Museum. Many of these were new not only to the museum but also to science. In 1948, the museum's board of trustees made Evelyn an honorary associate, and her contribution to science was further recognized in 1955 with an Order of the British Empire. This article draws on the rich store of Cheesman's personal papers, held in the Library and Archives of the Natural History Museum, to place her work as an entomologist in a biographical framework. As a scientist, she was remarkable, and as a woman unwilling to accept age- or gender-based limitations, she is inspirational.