William Chapman Hewitson (1806 - 1878)

William Chapman Hewitson

William Chapman Hewitson was a British naturalist, entomologist and artist, a member of the Linnean Society.

After gaining financial independence, Hewitson devoted himself entirely to natural history, particularly the study of scales and birds. His rich collection of exotic butterflies contained over 4,000 species and was considered one of the finest. Hewitson published numerous works on entomology and ornithology and was an accomplished scientific illustrator. His principal work was Illustrations of new species of exotic butterflies, a richly illustrated encyclopedia to which Hewitson devoted the last thirty years of his life, expending enormous personal resources, personally drawing and coloring the figures. At his death he left his entire butterfly collection to the British Museum.