Christine Foord Explained

Christine Foord
Birth Name:Christine Anita McDermott
Birth Date:3 February 1922
Death Date:5 January 2015 (aged 92)
Occupation:Entomologist
Photographer
Years Active:1950-1990

Christine Foord (1922–2015, née McDermott) was a British entomologist and nature photographer.

Biography

Christine Anita Foord, known before her marriage in 1967 as Christine Anita McDermott, was born on 3 February 1922.[1] Foord's parents were journalist Gerald McDermott (1879–1965), and Lucy Ogilvie McDermott (née McDermott, 1882–1945).[2] Gerald and Lucy were cousins and had married in 1906. Foord had an older brother named Andrew Walter McDermott (1913–1959).[3]

As Miss C.A. McDermott, Foord was elected a Member of the South London Entomological Society in 1950, with her particular field of study being listed as butterflies ["rh" or Rhopalocera].[4]

In 1953 Foord recorded the first known occurrence on the British list of the migrant butterfly Nymphalis xanthomelas, at Shipbourne in Kent:[5] she later gave her specimen to the Natural History Museum, London.[6]

In the 1950s-1960s, Foord lived at a McDermott family house that had once belonged to her great uncle Frederick (c.1856-1924) and great aunt Constance McDermott (c.1855-1930), "The Dene" at Borough Green in Kent.[7] [8] In this period Foord was documented as contributing specimens and occurrence data to the South London Entomological Society, plus organising excursions.[9] Foord presented specimens of caddisfly species Chimarra marginata, Limnephilus sparsus and Limnephilus centralis that she had collected in Scotland to the Natural History Museum in 1960.[10] [11] [12]

Christine McDermott married Ronald Foord (1923–2000) in 1967.[13] As a couple, the Foords created an archive of around 1000 black and white negatives and 35,000 colour transparencies they had taken of plants and insects, including U.K. wildflowers:[14] they sometimes contributed their images to articles in the magazine Country Life.[15] [16]

In the early 1970s the Foords were members of the council of the charity the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation, which later became the Kent Wildlife Trust.[17]

Christine Foord died at Brighton on 5 January 2015.[18]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1939 England and Wales Register for Christine McDermott . ancestry.co.uk.
  2. Web site: London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 for Gerald McDermott . ancestry.co.uk.
  3. Web site: England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 for Andrew W McDermott . ancestry.co.uk.
  4. 1956 . List of Members (Revised to 15th June 1957) . Proceedings and Transactions of the South London Entomological and Natural History Society . xvii . Archive.org.
  5. Web site: Eeles . Peter . August 2010 . A Brief History of British and Irish Butterflies . www.dispar.org.
  6. Web site: Collection specimens - Specimens - BMNH(E)500272 - Data Portal . 2024-10-26 . data.nhm.ac.uk . en-GB.
  7. News: 23 October 1964 . Why not Charity Greetings Cards this Christmas? [Miss C. McDermott is mentioned selling charity cards for the Kent Naturalists' Trust, from the Dene, Borough Green] ]. Tonbridge Free Press . 6.
  8. News: 22 August 1930 . West Kent District News: The Late Mrs McDermott . Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser . 10.
  9. 1957 . Field Meetings, 1957: Wrotham, Kent, 23rd June 1957 . Proceedings and Transactions of the South London Entomological and Natural History Society . 69 . archive.org.
  10. Web site: Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014567640 - Data Portal . 2024-10-26 . data.nhm.ac.uk . en-GB.
  11. Web site: Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014567233 - Data Portal . 2024-10-26 . data.nhm.ac.uk . en-GB.
  12. Web site: Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK014565363 - Data Portal . 2024-10-26 . data.nhm.ac.uk . en-GB.
  13. Web site: Christine A McDermott in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 [Marriage of Christine A McDermott and Ronald G Foord, October quarter 1967, Volume Number: 5a, Page number: 838] ]. ancestry.co.uk.
  14. Book: Directory of British Photographic Collections: A Royal Photographic Society publication . Camera / Graphic Press . 1977 . Wall . John . 82.
  15. News: McCintock . David . 15 August 1968 . Flowers of North-West Scotland . Country Life . 373–376 . The British Newspaper Archive.
  16. News: Grigson . Geoffrey . 12 July 1984 . Dejeuner sur l'Herbe: Picnic Flowers of France . Country Life . 108–109.
  17. News: 12 October 1971 . Nature Preserved . Kent Evening Post . 2 . The British Newspaper Archive.
  18. England Probate Calendar for 2015: Foord, Christine Anita: date of death: 5 January 2015. Accessed through probatesearch.service.gov.uk

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