https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Charles_M._InglisCharles M. Inglis - Revision history2026-07-31T11:01:43ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Charles_M._Inglis&diff=476099&oldid=prevElenaEbersbacher at 19:13, 29 January 20262026-01-29T19:13:11Z<p></p>
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[[File:Charles M. Inglis DSCN5098.jpg|thumb]]<br />
'''Charles McFarlane Inglis''' [[Royal Entomological Society|FES]], [[Zoological Society of London|FZS]] (8 November 1870 – 13 February 1954) was a [[natural history|naturalist]] and [[curator]] of the [[Darjeeling]] museum in [[India]] from 1923 to 1948.<ref name=":0" /> The museum was run by the Bengal Natural History Society and many of his writings were published in that society's journal which he started and edited.<br />
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== Life and work ==<br />
[[File:Entomology_meeting_1919.jpg|thumb|left|Inglis in 1919 (sitting fourth from left)]]<br />
Inglis was born in Elgin, Scotland, the third son of Archibald William Inglis, a retired indigo planter in Bihar who had gone to India at the age of 18.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924024077806#page/n287/|pages=263–266|title=History of Behar|author=Wilson, Minden|year=1908| place=Calcutta|publisher=Calcutta General Printing Company}}</ref> A twin sister died in infancy. The family moved to Funchal, Madeira for his father's health and after his death there, the mother and children moved to Geneva. Charles and his brother Harold became interested in natural history. The family then moved to Clifton, Gloucestershire, where the boys continued to collect butterflies including some rare specimens from natural history specimen trader Mann. Their mother moved back to Geneva and the boys went to Stanley House, Stirlingshire, spending summers in Switzerland. They knew excellent French. At seventeen he worked in the Highand railway in Inverness while two older brothers moved to indigo farming in Bihar. He got a job at Roopachera estate in Hailekandi thanks to a godfather in Calcutta in 1889. He became interested in birds after a muslim collector working for [[Allan Octavian Hume]] showed him a specimen of an oriole and hired Inglis to collect for him at Rs 35 a month. He subsequently contacted [[E. C. Stuart Baker|E C Stuart Baker]]. In 1894 he moved the Larsingah tea estate in Happy Valley. Three years later he contracted malaria and spent about half a year in the Nilgiris to recover. He returned to Calcutta and once again got malaria. In 1898 he joined his brothers and became an indigo planter in Baghownie. During this time made studies of birds and collected many specimens of butterflies and dragonflies.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|title=Obituary|year= 1954 |journal=Journal of the Bengal Natural History Society |volume=24|pages=1–8|issn=0409-0756}}</ref><ref>Warr, F. E. 1996. Manuscripts and Drawings in the ornithology and Rothschild libraries of The Natural History Museum at Tring. BOC.</ref> He bred Burmese peafowl and swamp partridge in outdoor aviaries. In 1923 he took over as curator of the Darjeeling Natural History Museum. In September 1945 he married Sybil Dorothy Hunt. In 1948, he retired to Coonoor where he died in 1954.<ref>{{cite journal| journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume=80| year=1983| pages=320–330 |title=Bombay Natural History Society - the Founders, the Builders and the Guardians. Part 4.| author=Ali, Salim| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48743924}}</ref><ref name=obit>{{cite journal|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48184453 |title=Charles M. Inglis|volume=52| pages=565–568| journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|year=1955}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |author=Saha, J. C. |year=1954 |title=Charles McFarlane Inglis |url=https://collections.archives.ncbs.res.in/server/api/core/bitstreams/8657b734-cefd-44e8-b71f-8f48a8ba2e35/content |journal=Journal of the Bengal Natural History Society |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–5}}</ref> He encouraged the bird studies by Mrs [[Jamal Ara]], providing her with all his notes from Darbhanga.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ara, Mrs Jamal |author-link=Jamal Ara |year=1954 |title=Charles McFarlane Inglis: a tribute |url=https://collections.archives.ncbs.res.in/server/api/core/bitstreams/8657b734-cefd-44e8-b71f-8f48a8ba2e35/content |journal=Journal of the Bengal Natural History Society |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=6–8}}</ref> <br />
[[File:Charles_McFarlane_Inglis_Tombstone_at_Tiger's_Hill_cemetery_Coonoor_20220130_152209.jpg|thumb|Grave at Tiger Hill cemetery, Coonoor]]<br />
His ability to sketch and illustrate birds led to [[Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher]] inviting him to produce a series of articles on birds of importance to agriculture in India. These were published in the Agricultural Journal of India and were later revised and published as a book ''Birds of an Indian Garden'' in 1924.<ref name=obit /><br />
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Inglis shot eight specimens of the [[pink-headed duck]] in [[Bihar]] from 1903, including the last known specimen collected in June 1935 from Baghownie.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Inglis |first=C.M. |date= 1940|title= Records of some rare, or uncommon, geese and ducks and other water birds and waders in North Bihar. |journal= Journal of the Bengal Natural History Society|volume=15|issue=2| pages=56–60 |issn= 0409-0756|oclc=10654633}}</ref> Several species of dragonflies were named from specimens he collected, these include ''Megalestes irma, Bayadera longicauda, Davidius zallorensis delineatus, Anormogomphus heteropterus''. The fish ''Nemacheilus rupicola'' var. ''inglisi'' was named after him as also the birds ''Prinia socialis inglisi,'' and ''[[Manipur bush quail|Cryptoplectron manipurensis inglisi]]''.<ref name=":1" /><gallery><br />
File:J D N H S.jpg|Cover of the Journal of the Darjeeling Natural History Society<br />
File:Green Magpie Inglis.jpg|''[[Cissa chinensis]]'' <br />
File:Indian_Roller_Inglis.jpg|[[Indian roller]] <br />
File:Coppersmith_Inglis.jpg|Coppersmith barbet<br />
File:Upupa_Inglis.jpg|Hoopoe<br />
File:White-eye_Inglis.jpg|Oriental white-eye<br />
File:Terpsiphone_Inglis.jpg|Indian paradise flycatcher<br />
File:Oriole_Inglis.jpg|Indian golden oriole<br />
File:Magpie_Robin_Inglis.jpg|Oriental magpie robin<br />
</gallery><br />
==Publications==<br />
*Baker, H. R. & C. M. Inglis. ''[https://archive.org/details/the-birds-of-southern-india The Birds of Southern India including Madras, Malabar, Travancore, Cochin, Coorg and Mysore.]'' Government Press, Madras (1930)<br />
*[[Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher|Fletcher, T. B.]] and C. M. Inglis ''[https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.7158 Birds of an Indian Garden].'' Calcutta & Simla: Thacker, Spink & Co. (1924)<br />
*Inglis C. M. The leaf insect – ''Phyllium scythe'' Gr. J. Darjeeling Nat Hist. Soc. 5 : 32–33 (1930)<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=no | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:Charles McFarlane Inglis | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=no}}<br />
==External links==<br />
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles McFarlane Inglis |sopt=t}}<br />
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[[Category:British naturalists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian naturalists]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the Zoological Society of London]]<br />
[[Category:Owners of plantations in India]]<br />
[[Category:1870 births]]<br />
[[Category:1954 deaths]]<br />
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[[Category:People from Darjeeling]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian biologists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian biologists]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from West Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:British people in British India]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from British India]]<br />
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