Tom Iredale (March 24, 1880 - April 12, 1972) was an English ornithologist and malacologist. Tom Iredale. ... March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). ... 1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... Ornithology (from the Greek ornitha = chicken and logos = word/science) is the branch of biology concerned with the scientific study of birds. ... Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora - Chitons Monoplacophora Bivalvia - Bivalves Scaphopoda - Tusk shells Gastropoda - Snails and Slugs Cephalopoda - Squids, Octopuses, etc. ...

Iredale was born at Stainburn, Workington, Cumberland. He became an apprentice to a pharmacist (1899-1901) and, with fellow Chemist William Carruthers Lawrie, used to go bird watching and egg collecting in the Lake District. Workington once celebrated its own version of Easter Football. The somewhat questionable glories of Workington Easter football play have passed away, partly in consequence of the occupation of a portion of the playing ground by railways and works, and not less because of a change of feeling. ... The word Cumberland may have a variety of possible meanings. ... Crinkle Crags as seen from the adjoining fell of Cold Pike. ...

He went on a sea voyage for his health, possibly TB, and, according to a letter dated 25 Jan 1902 to Will Lawrie, arrived in Wellington, New Zealand in December 1901 travelling at once on to Lyttleton and Christchurch. On his second day in Christchurch he discovered that in the Foreign Natural History Gallery of the Museum and Public Library of 16 English birds' eggs 2 were wrongly identified - Red Grouse egg labelled as Sandpiper and Moorhen labelled Water Rail. Wellington (Te Whanganui-a-Tara or Poneke) is the capital city of New Zealand and the countrys second-largest urban area. ... Christchurch is a city on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. ...

He became a clerk in a New Zealand company at Christchurch (1902-1907). Around 1906 he married Alice Maud Atkinson in New Zealand and they had one child, Ida. Christchurch is a city on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. ...

He was an autodidact and never went to university, thus lacking formal university training. This would show up in his later work. He never revised his manuscripts, never even used a typewriter.

In 1908, as one of the Kermadec Islands Expedition, he lived for ten months on these remote islands, northeast of New Zealand. He studied birds and became an bird expert, by the simple fact of living with thousands of them. He survived by shooting and eating the objects of his study. A far cry from today’s freeze-dried survival kits! While collecting molluscan species on the island, he became more and more interested in the study of molluscs. This would be a new starting point in his career. But in those times, as a keen naturalist, he had to possess a broad interest in nature. The Kermadec Islands form an island arc in the Pacific Ocean. ... Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora - Chitons Monoplacophora Bivalvia - Bivalves Scaphopoda - Tusk shells Gastropoda - Snails and Slugs Cephalopoda - Squids, Octopuses, etc. ...

In 1909 he visited Queensland, Australia, collecting about 300 species of chitons and other molluscs. His reputation among his peers was growing, even if he had no university degree. Motto: Audax at Fidelis (Bold but Faithful) Nickname: Sunshine State/Smart State Other Australian states and territories Capital Brisbane Government Governor Premier Const. ...

He returned to Britain to become a freelance worker at the British Museum of Natural History in London (1909-1910). There he worked as the assistant of Gregory Mathews on the book Birds of Australia (1911-1923). He wrote much of the text, but the work was credited to Mathews. Gregory Macalister Mathews (September 10, 1876 - March 27, 1949) was an Australian ornithologist. ...

He married Lilian Marguerite Medland (1880-1955) on 8 June 1923. She would illustrate several of his books and would become one of Australia’s finest bird artists.

He continued his work in natural history under the patronage of other wealthy naturalists, such as Charles Rothschild. Under his patronage, he travelled to Hungary to collect fleas from birds. (Nathaniel) Charles Rothschild (May 9, 1877 _ October 12, 1923) was an English banker and entomologist and a member of the Rothschild international financial dynasty. ...

Iredale returned to Australia in 1923 and soon after took up a position as a conchologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney (1924-1944). He worked tirelessly on publications on shells, birds, ecology and zoogeography. He lectured frequently and wrote many popular scientific articles in newspapers. Due to his efforts (and later curators), the Mollusc Section at the Australian Museum maintains now the largest research collection of molluscs in the Southern Hemisphere with over 6,000 specimens. Conchology is the collection and study of the shells of mollusks. ... The Australian Museum is the oldest museum in Australia, centering on natural history and anthropology, with collections centering on vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as minerology, palaeontology, and anthropology. ...

On retirement in 1944, he became a Honorary Associate till his death.

Many species in conchology, ichthyology and ornithology were named after him, as well as several genera, such as

• Cryptoplax iredalei E. Ashby, 1923

He was a Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1931; W.B. Clarke medal; Royal Society of New South Wales 1959; President, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1937-38.

Selected Works

• Iredale, T., 'Solander as an Ornithologist' Ibis, 1913, pp. 127-135
• Iredale, T., 'John Brazier 1842-1930', Nautilus, vol. 44, 1931
• Iredale, T., 'J. R. and G. Forster, Naturalists', Emu, vol. 37, 1937, pp. 95-99
• Iredale, T. 1940. Book review. The fishes of Australia. Part I by G. P. Whitley. Proceedings of the RZS of NSW 1939-40: 41.
• Iredale, T. 1941. Book review. The molluscs of South Australia. Part II by B. C. Cotton & F. K. Godfrey. Proceedings of the RZS of NSW 1940-41: 35.
• Iredale, T. 1942. Book review. Australian Insects. An introductory handbook by Keith C. McKeown. Proceedings of the RZS of NSW 1941-42: 33-34.
• Iredale, T. 1947. Book review. Gliders of the gum trees. The most beautiful and enchanting Australian marsupials by David Fleay. Proceedings of the RZS of NSW 1947-47: 5.
• Iredale, T. 1951. Book review. Australian shells by Joyce Allan. Proceedings of the RZS of NSW 1949-50: 73-74.
• Iredale, T. 1958. Book review. Cowry Shells of World Seas by Joyce Allan. Proceedings of the RZS of NSW 1956-57: 95-96.
• Birds of Paradise and Bower Birds (1950)
• Birds of New Guinea, 1956 (Vol.1, 2), Illustrated with 35 plates in colour figuring 347 birds by Lilian Medland
• Iredale, T., 'John (William) Brazier', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1956, p. 105
• Iredale, T., 'Broinowski's Birds and Mammals of Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1956
• Iredale, T., 'Scientific Societies in Australia. The Sydney University Chemical Society', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, vol. 27, 1960, pp. 216-217
• Iredale, T. and Whitley, G.P., 'Sir William Dennison as a Conchologist', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1964, pp. 27-30
• Iredale, T., 'Charles Hedley', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, vol. 88, 1967, pp. 26-31

Reference

• McMichael, D. F. & Whitley, G. P. 1956. The published writing of Tom Iredale with an index of his new scientific names. Australian Zoologist 12: 211-250.
• W. F. PONDER and G. P. WHITLEY. Tom Iredale (1880–1972) [an obituary]: 60–62 The Nautilus 68, December 1972