James John Joicey

Collecting Joicey's boyhood interest in insects was encouraged by his parents, and at the age of sixteen he put together a small collection of British and foreign butterflies. As an adult, he rediscovered his boyhood collection and was inspired to start collecting in earnest, He used his resources to "indulge a taste for collecting butterflies and moths which remained with him throughout his life". He travelled "in the East" as a young man. Although he employed experts to collect most of his specimens, he also collected "on his own account both here and abroad", In 1913, he built and financed a private research museum, the Hill Museum, at his home in Witley, employing a curator and seven assistants. a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1903, a fellow of the Entomological Society in 1908 (council member 1920–1923), a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1912, a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1913, a life member of the Société entomologique de France in 1921, and a member of the London Natural History Society in 1928.

Joicey was also an amateur orchidist, and exhibited at meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Finances Joicey could afford to build his collection of Lepidoptera through his family connection with the firm of "Messrs. James Joicey & Co., Ltd, coalowners, Newcastle", founded by his grandfather. Although described as having been "nominally on the Stock Exchange from 1896 to 1899", then, in 1901, as a "coal owner & ship owner", and, in 1913, as a director of the family coal mining firm, Joicey effectively had no occupation and throughout his life relied on allowances from his parents. His income proved insufficient for his "extravagance in living" and the interest rates charged by money-lenders. Joicey became bankrupt in 1909 with a deficiency of over £185,000 (approximately ), and again in 1922 with a deficiency of over £430,000 (approximately ) despite his mother having given him £300,000 (approximately ) in the interim. The latter bankruptcy was discharged in October 1931. The Witley house and estate were bought for Joicey after his first bankruptcy. When sued by creditors in 1919, the judge said, "He seems hardly to have grown up. He seems to have infantile tastes which his mother helps him gratify." When counsel stated that Joicey was "susceptible to the wiles of the money-lenders", the judge responded, "And to the wiles of the butterflies." During the 1922 bankruptcy hearing, Joicey said, "I think the money seems to have gone like snow in an oven."

Death Joicey's mother died in 1930, leaving an estate valued at over £300,000 (approximately ). Towards the end of his life, Joicey became an invalid. He died of heart failure on 10 March 1932 at his home, The Hill, in Witley, Surrey, aged 61, and was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Sunningdale. Joicey's estate was valued at £1,151 (approximately ), his collection and museum having been principally paid for and owned by his mother.

Collections

The primary object of Mr. Joicey in making this collection of Lepidoptera is to advance in some way our scientific knowledge. ... The formation of a large collection has its value, because without access to plenty of material studies can only be incomplete and results are often erroneous. ... No apology should be needed for amassing large collections ... — George Talbot, 1924

He acquired the Henley Grose-Smith collection in 1910. Two years later he bought the Herbert Druce collection. To house his growing collection, he founded the Hill Museum at his Witley home in 1913. and George Talbot (from 1915), with a staff of assistants.

In 1919, the collection was valued at £50,000 (approximately ). It consisted of 1.5 million specimens held in a room containing chests of drawers with "5000 compartments neatly arranged round the room, and in addition 4000 cases, all carefully labelled". It was reported that,

Here were butterflies of all sizes, of all colours – all arranged in an effective colour grouping. In one compartment were ... great winged beauties half a foot from wing tip to wing tip. In another were creatures so small that it needed a microscope to discern their beauty. These include the four volumes of The Bulletin of the Hill Museum, 1921–1932, edited by Joicey and Talbot, and A Catalogue of the Type Specimens of Lepidoptera Rhopalocera in the Hill Museum, 1932, by Alfred George Gabriel.

During his lifetime, Joicey "presented to the Nation" between 200,000 and 300,000 Lepidoptera specimens including about 75,000 to the Natural History Museum. The latter figure included 15,500 moths and a number of butterflies (1923), his whole collection of over 30,000 Hesperiidae butterflies (1926), 6,000 Lymantriidae moths (1928), and, in 1931, a series of 800 type butterflies being "the most valuable, both scientifically and intrinsically ... received for the past two decades", some thousands of moths including over 600 type and paratype moths, and 1,500 butterflies including 750 type specimens. In 1932, the collection numbered over 500,000 specimens.

Shortly after Joicey's death in 1932 the Hill Museum was closed and the property sold by his mother's executors. Together with the Oberthür and Rothschild collections, the Joicey collection contributed significantly to the quality and number of the Lepidoptera collection held by the Natural History Museum, London.

A report in Nature stated that,

During his life-time, the late J. J. Joicey probably did more to stimulate the study of butterflies and moths, especially those of Africa, than any other private individual in Great Britain.

Works Joicey and Talbot (partial list)

New Species of Heterocera from Dutch New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Eighth series) 15 (87): 295–301, pl. XII (1915) New Lepidoptera from the Dutch New Guinea (with A. Noakes). Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 63 (3,4): 361–386, pls LV–LXII (1916) New Lepidoptera from the Schouten Islands. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 64 (1): 65–83, pls 3–6 (1916) New Heterocera from Dutch New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Eighth series) 20 (115): 50–87, pls 1–4 (1917) New Lepidoptera from Waigeu, Dutch New Guinea and Biak. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Eighth series) 20 (117): 216–229 (1917) New South-American Rhopalocera. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 259–264, pl I (1918) New South-American Arctiidae. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 265–270, pl I (1918) New butterflies from Africa and the east. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 271–272 (1918) A Gynandromorph of Papilio lycophron Hbn. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 273, pl II (1918) Three Aberrations of Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 275–276, pl I (1918) New forms of Indo-Australian butterflies. Bulletin of the Hill Museum 1 (3): 565–569 (1924) New forms of Lepidoptera Rhopalocera. Encyclopedia of Entomology (B III Lepidoptera) 2: 1–14 (1926) New forms of Rhopalocera in the Hill Museum. Bulletin of the Hill Museum 2 (1): 19–27 (1928) Also see the BioNames database linking taxonomic names to their original descriptions

Associated with the Hill Museum The Bulletin of the Hill Museum (111 articles and 80 plates ) 1921 1921–1924 1924 1928 1929 1931

Other journals (82 articles ) (partial list) 1914–1916 1916–1921 1921–1924 1924–1927