James Alan Moy-Thomas Explained

James Alan Moy-Thomas
Birth Date:12 September 1908
Birth Place:London
Occupation:Palaeontologist
Spouse:Joy Mitchell

James Alan Moy-Thomas (12 September 1908 – 29 February 1944) was an English palaeontological ichthyologist.

The son of Alan Moy-Thomas and his wife Gertrude, he was born in London. He had a younger brother Edward and an older sister Joan Caroline. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a first class degree in zoology in 1930[1]

He authored numerous papers on palaeontological ichthyology.

In 1933 he married Joy Mitchell in Wharfedale, Yorkshire.

In 1941 he was granted a Commission in the Special Duties Branch (i.e. intelligence) of the RAF.[2] His service number was 66643.

He died in a motor vehicle accident in 1944[3] and was buried in Cambridge.[4] An obituary was published in The Times,[5] and another by Edwin Stephen Goodrich was published in Nature.[6]

Two genera of Palaeozoic fish, Jamoytius and Moythomasia, are named after him.[7]

His brother Edward died later that year on active service in the Netherlands, during Operation Market Garden.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: James Alan MOY-THOMAS | Christ Church, Oxford . Chch.ox.ac.uk . 2015-05-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141219010301/http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/cathedral/memorials/WW2/james-moythomas . 19 December 2014 . dead .
  2. Web site: 13 June 1941. The London Gazette. live. The Gazette Official Public Record. 27 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20150201065413/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35190/page/3387. 1 February 2015.
  3. Deaths on Active Service. The Times 4 March 1944; pg. 1; Issue 49796.
  4. Web site: Casualty Details . CWGC.org . 2015-05-28.
  5. The Times, 4 March 1944, page 7
  6. Nature . Flight-Lieut. J. A. Moy-Thomas : Abstract . Nature . 153 . 3884 . 427 . Nature.com . 1944-04-08 . 10.1038/153427a0 . free .
  7. Book: Alexander . R. McNeill . The chordates . 1975 . London ; New York : Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-20472-9 . 18–19 .
  8. Web site: Casualty Details . CWGC.org . 1944-09-20 . 2015-05-28.