From Bugs to the Bard Trivia Quiz

Answer: Forest of Dean

Henry Edwards, better known as Harry Edwards, was born in Ross-on-Wye in England in 1827. He is known to have spent some of his youth exploring the Forest of Dean, one of the oldest woodlands in England, approximately 110 sq km (42 sq mi) of forest. This idyllic setting is likely where he developed his passionate interest in insects. As of 2019, the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean were home to over 30 species of butterflies, among them some of England's rarest species.

There are some questions about his birth year because Edwards cited different years at different times, from 1827 to 1830. He is not to be confused with William Henry Edwards, an American businessman and entomologist who lived in the same period and with whom he corresponded.

Answer: Edward Doubleday

When Harry Edwards moved to London to take up a job as a counting clerk, he continued his passion for butterflies and moths with Edward Doubleday as a mentor. Doubleday was a well-known 19th century lepidopterist responsible for building the butterfly collection of the British Museum. London is also where Edwards took an interest in amateur theatre, appearing in Lord Byron's "Werner" and Shakespeare's "As You Like It".

In the 19th century much of the scientific research, particularly in the natural sciences, was still carried out by self-funded individuals, like Edwards, known as "gentleman scientists".

Answer: Queen's Theatre

In 1853, Edwards set sail for Australia where he joined his older brother. He soon gained a considerable reputation as a Shakespearean actor. His first appearance was at the Queen's Theatre in Melbourne, also known as the Queen's Royal Theatre, built in 1845. He later appeared at the Princess's Theatre in Sydney. Among the plays in which he had leading roles were "The Taming of the Shrew", "The Comedy of Errors", and "Measure for Measure".

Answer: National Museum of Victoria

During his Australia stay, from 1853 to 1865, Edwards continued to act regularly, but still managed to find time to pursue his passion for entomology. In 1858, he found a new mentor, William Sharp Macleay, a renowned entomologist, who hosted evenings for like-minded intellectuals and naturalists.

Edwards started his Australian explorations by making a natural history of the Melbourne area. At some point, he met another fellow English immigrant, William Kershaw, who shared his passion for insects. The two explored the Australian colony, extensively collecting specimens. Edwards estimated that his collection alone included over 2000 samples, representing 700-800 species. In 1856, the two men sold part of their Victorian insects to the National Museum of Victoria for the beginning of its entomological collection. In 1857 Kershaw was offered a position with the museum. A year later, Edwards also tried to get a post, but without success. In 1859, he applied to become a curator for the Sydney Museum of Natural History, again without success.

The National Museum of Victoria opened in 1854. In 1983, it merged with the Science Museum of Victoria to become the Museum of Victoria, now known as Museums Victoria.

Edwards' first sale to the National Museum was not the last time he would share his collection. In the 1860s, he placed an advertisement offering to exchange up to 10,000 Australian insects with entomology enthusiasts around the world. In 1881, he donated over a hundred butterflies and moths to the British Museum and his final collection went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Answer: The California Theatre

In 1865, Henry Edwards took up residence in San Francisco. He leased and managed the Metropolitan Theatre from 1868-1869. In 1869, he was one of the founding members of the California Theatre, where he was both an actor and a stage manager. The theatre, built by William C. Ralston, was one of the leading theatres in San Francisco until its demolition in 1888.

Answer: The California Academy of Science

The California Academy of Science was founded in 1853 by a small group of men interested in promoting the natural sciences. It was the first scientific institution of this nature in the western USA. Their initial goal was to complete a natural history survey of California and to create a space to exhibit their findings. Soon after he arrived in San Francisco, Edwards began to spend considerable time at the Academy, where he was elected a member in 1867. His focus was on the butterflies and moths of the Pacific Coast. During this period, he spent time with John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and both a naturalist and advocate for wilderness areas, for whom Edwards named a moth. By 1873, Edwards had become the Academy's curator of entomology. Edwards drew from Shakespeare's characters for naming some of the new species he identified, such as Catocala ophelia, Catocala hermia and Catocala desdemona.

In 1874, when Edwards was serving as vice-president, the Academy opened the first public museum in California. It moved to more extensive facilities in 1881, later destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906. The museum reopened after ten years in Golden Gate Park, where it has continued its work for over a hundred years.

Answer: Bohemian Club

The Bohemian Club, founded in 1872, was a private club for journalists, actors, artists and musicians interested in the arts and culture. Edwards was a founding member and served as its president from 1873-1875. Eventually, the club began admitting politicians and businessmen. Full membership in the club is limited to no more than 2700 and is for males only, although a few women became honorary members. Over the years its members have included notables from such literary figures Ambroise Pierce, Mark Twain, and Jack London to movie stars and producers, four ex-US presidents and heads of international corporations. Its membership is very elite and influential. US President Richard Nixon is quoted as saying that "anybody can be president of the United States, but very few can ever have any hope of becoming president of the Bohemian Club."

In 1878, when Edwards was getting ready to leave San Francisco, members of the club organized a party for him in a grove of redwoods in Sonoma County, north of the city. This event was the beginning of an annual two-week retreat that came to be known as the Bohemian Grove. Today the campground is 1,093 hectares (2,700 acres). There is a strict culture of secrecy around the club and its activities, which has given rise to much speculation about its cult-like nature.

Edwards was also a director of the San Francisco Art Association and a member of the Lambs Club in New York, a club for professional stage actors. In 1982, he was among those who helped newspaper editor Harrison Grey Fiske to start a charitable fund to support destitute actors and their widows, which became the Actors' Fund. Edwards served one year as its secretary.

Answer: Daly Theatre

In 1878, Edwards left San Francisco. After a brief period in Boston, he took up residence in New York City, where he acted at the Palmer's, Wallack's and Daly's Theatres in productions ranging from "The Hunchback" and "The School for Scandal" to "Hamlet". By now Edwards was ageing and taking the parts of older men. At the time, Wallack's was considered the best theatre in the country. In 1988, the same year that Wallack's closed, Edwards appeared in "Hamlet" at the Metropolitan Opera House, a benefit performance for Lester Wallack. Among the cast was Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin.

In 1889, Edwards made a brief farewell tour in Australia. He tried to return to acting upon his return and took up a role in "Love's Labours Lost", but failing health prevented him continuing.

Answer: Papilio

During his New York period, Edwards was active in both the Brooklyn and New York Entomological Societies. In 1881, he co-founded and edited for three years "Papilio", a journal for butterfly enthusiasts. In it, Edwards referred to some of the naturalists with whom he communicated over the years. He shared letters and postcards with almost 300 correspondents from 24 different countries. The most famous was Charles Darwin to whom Edwards provided data, some of which, it is believed, Darwin used when preparing "The Descent of Man".

In addition to the journal and several scientific papers, Edwards also published in 1983 "A Mingled Yard: sketches on various subjects", the title of which was taken from Shakespeare's play "All's Well That Ends Well". The sketches touch briefly on Edward's time in Australia, detail three weeks he spent in Mexico, and cover activities of the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. The compilation also includes tributes to some of his contemporaries.

Answer: American Museum of Natural History

Henry Edwards died at home in Harlem, New York in 1891 of complications from kidney disease and chronic pneumonia. At the time of his death, Edward's entomology collection is said to have included over 300,000 specimens of 40,000 different global species, one of the largest private collections in the world. Friends of his purchased the collection for roughly $15,000 to support his widow and donated it to the American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869. Trustees of the museum later purchased his books and pamphlets.

In 2019, the museum was still citing his collection as being part of the nucleus of their Lepidoptera department.