David Dyson

David Dyson (1823–1856) was a British naturalist, scientific collector, curator and weaver who travelled and collected specimens in the United States, Central America, and Venezuela during the 1840s.

Biography

Family and education Dyson was born in Oldham, England in April 1823. His exact birth date was not recorded in parish records, but he was baptised on 24 April 1823 at St Peter's Chapel in Oldham. His parents were John Dyson, a weaver and spinner, and his wife Mary. ) and James (a musician, born c. 1817 ); he had a younger brother named Amos (who was also a musician like James, c. 1825-1860 ). The Dyson family lived at Broadway Lane, which was then part of the main road between Oldham and Ashton.

David Dyson began his career as a factory worker, specifically a weaver. Dyson had begun by exploring his own local area: he said in 1850 on the subject of shell collecting that he had searched for specimens in the districts around Manchester for "many years."

Dyson's early biographer Mrs. Ives of Stockport, England (c.1900) asserted that Dyson was illiterate as he had told the British Museum authorities that he distinguished between natural history objects using a "mode of writing... a hieroglyphic marking understood only to himself." As Jackson pointed out, "the letters have proved beyond a doubt that Dyson was so far from being illiterate that he was in constant correspondence with a large number of people." Dyson sustained himself financially by selling part of the collections he was making to local museums as he traveled.

Dyson spent about a year in the US and returned to the U.K. with 18,000 specimens of insects, birds, plants and shells. Dyson left the U.K. on 17 September 1844 and arrived in Belize on 3 November 1844. Dyson is known to have visited the British settlement at Honduras / British Honduras, now Belize. so it is possible that the terms 'Honduras' and 'Belize' were being used interchangeably around this time, or that Dyson did visit both Honduras and Belize. The available information in the public domain leaves this issue uncertain. This article says 'Honduras' or 'Belize' verbatim as it is given in the original references, which in one case also include co-usage of both "Honduras" in conjunction with "at some distance from Balize"

Bats collected by Dyson including the species Sturnira lilium and Rhogeessa tumida were the first from Belize to be scientifically documented. Dyson's specimen of the beetle Tarpela reticulata from Honduras was stated by Champion to still be the only known example of that species in the British Museum's collection more than forty years after Dyson had recorded it.

Dyson also collected some living specimens on this voyage, including a squirrel and a lone female ocellated turkey Meleagris ocellata, which somewhat disappointed his patron the thirteenth Earl of Derby who had hoped to acquire a breeding pair of the turkeys for his aviary at Knowlsey. After the death of the thirteenth Earl, the turkey collected by Dyson was sold to Charles Jamrach for £15. Dyson and Amos arrived at Venezuela on 22 April 1846. Dyson collected Venezuelan Diptera specimens for the British Museum which were later described by Francis Walker, including some new-to-science species e.g. Trichopoda umbra Walker 1849, Tachina aequabilis [now known as Cryptopalpus aequabilis (Walker, 1849)] and Sarcophaga jejuna [now known as Microcerella jejuna Walker].

At Caracas towards the end of April 1846, Dyson was introduced to Belford Hinton Wilson (1803–1858), Queen Victoria's Charge D'Affaires at Venezuela, who gave him a letter of introduction to the Dutch Consul, who was also a naturalist. Dyson's lizards were initially thought by John Edward Gray to be a new species, Argalia olivacea Gray 1847, but this species was later synonymised with Anadia marmorata (Gray, 1846).

The Dysons' violins were broken on their travels. When they sent them home for repair, Dyson stuffed one instrument with contraband cigars as a gift for his brother John, but it was seized by Customs officials. but it is not clear whether this sheep was brought to the U.K. by Dyson.

Manchester shells guidebook, 1850

In 1850 Dyson published a book about the shells that could be found in the vicinity of Manchester: The Land and Fresh Water Shells of the Districts Around Manchester: With Their Particular Localities. ). Dyson was a Christian and applied his faith to his study of shells, which he felt reflected the wisdom of God: 'His care is not confined to the higher orders of creation; but that He regards equally the little occupant of the shell which floats in the water, or the monarch of the forest.' (Dyson 1850, pgs iv-v) Dyson had a good working relationship with the Earl, based upon samples of their letters. Part of the 13th Earl's zoology collection was bequeathed to the people of Liverpool and became the foundation of the Derby Museum, now the World Museum in Liverpool.

Dyson worked for some time circa 1847 arranging the shell collection of Hugh Cuming at Cuming's home at 80 Gower Street, London.

Death Dyson's health was described as "shattered" as a consequence of the hardships and risks taken from his overseas collecting trips, [this is likely to be the portrait of Dyson featured above].

Dyson's collections and legacy Dyson left a personal collection of 20000 shells, representing between 8000 and 9,000 species, which were offered for sale after his death. Amos Dyson and later the conchologist Frederick Price Marrat (1820–1904) were in charge of the sale, but the disposal of David's shell collection was not a quick one and the collection was listed for sale from 1857 until 1859. Amos died in 1860.

Specimens of insects, shells, birds, and reptiles collected by Dyson on his voyages are preserved in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.

Selected animals named for David Dyson

An example of Dyson's Keyhole Limpet (Diodora dysoni), a species which was found in the Dominican Republic, photographed by H. Zell

The land snail Achatina dysoni [now Stretostyla dysoni (Pfieffer, 1847)] was named by Louis Pfieffer from a specimen found by Dyson under decayed leaves at Honduras. The sea snail Mangelia dysoni [now Tenaturris dysoni (Reeve, 1846)], common name "Dyson's Mangelia", was named by Lovell Reeve from specimens found by Dyson on the sands at Honduras. Dyson's specimens were originally part of Hugh Cuming's collection The butterfly Euterpe dysoni [now Leodonta dysoni (Doubleday 1847)] was named by Edward Doubleday from a specimen Dyson had collected in Venezuela.