Herbert Musgrave Phipson

H. M. Phipson, businessman, naturalist, and longtime editor of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Herbert Musgrave Phipson (c. 1850 – 7 August 1936), was a British wine merchant and naturalist who lived in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, from 1878 to 1905. As the honorary secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society, editor of its Journal, and manager of the Society's business and outreach activities, he played an important role in establishing the journal's reputation as the foremost natural history journal in Asia; he also influenced public science policy in the Bombay Presidency.

Biography Phipson was born in London in about 1850 and educated at Clifton College. He went out to India in 1878 as a partner in the firm of J. A. Forbes & Co., Bombay. Five years later, he established his own company, Phipson & Co. Wine Merchants. He joined the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in 1884 and in 1886 became both the Society's honorary secretary and the editor of its journal. He married Edith Pechey, head physician at the Cama Hospital for Women and Children, Bombay in 1889. In 1906, he and his wife returned to England, on account of her ill-health, to which, however, she succumbed two years later.

Academic and Public Science Phipson spent most of his BNHS-related work in three activities: on increasing the Society's reputation in the natural sciences by the publication of high-quality articles in its journal; on increasing the Society's importance to zoologists by building up its collections of both live animals and specimens; and on stepping up the society's public service efforts though its meetings and displays. During his tenure as editor, the journal became the best known natural history journal in Asia. The BNHS's ever increasing collection of live animals gave Phipson the idea of establishing a Society-managed zoological gardens in Bombay; this effort, however, failed, as the Bombay Municipality did not agree to the site selected by Phipson for the proposed zoo. Phipson joined the Fund, and soon became its secretary. It was through his activities at the Fund that Phipson met his future wife, Edith Pechey, who had just arrived in Bombay as Senior Physician at the Cama Hospital for Women and Children. He and Edith were married in March 1889. at no rent and at nominal cost. Newspapers in Bombay advertised these accommodations and interested readers were asked to apply to Phipson and Co. for further arrangements. They also participated in the Mud March organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in February 1907. By this time Edith was seriously ill with breast cancer and diabetes and underwent surgery for the cancer. Although successful for the cancer, the surgery could not save Edith's life, and she died in a diabetic coma on 14 April 1908 at their home in Folkestone, Kent.

H. M. Phipson died in London on 7 August 1936 at the age of 86.