James John Joicey

Background James John Joicey was born on 28 December 1870 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the only child of Major William James Joicey, a wealthy coal owner, and Mary Anne Joicey née Clark. He was educated at Aysgarth School, Yorkshire, and Hertford College, Oxford, and was an Associate Member of the Institute of Mining Engineers from 1891. He was also a member of the Junior Carlton Club. Joicey married Maud Muriel Fisher (later Baroness de Satgé) in London in 1896. He lived at The Hill in Witley, Surrey, from about 1912. 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 ==

As an adult, Joicey began collecting Lepidoptera in 1906 and by 1908 was advertising as far away as Australia for: Fresh-caught Specimens of Butterflies and Large Moths, in papers. Send Samples and state price per hundred. 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. and New Guinea). W. J. C. Frost, who visited the Islands of Tenimber, Am, Key, Misol, Obi and Sula during 1915–1918, donated his collection. Another collector, C. Talbot Bowring, sent many thousands of specimens from Hainan Island between 1918 and 1920. 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. Joicey's obituary in The Entomologist stated that, The closing of the Hill Museum and the disbanding of its staff are events which will have serious repercussions throughout the ranks of lepidopterists in all parts of the world, and will definitely retard the advance of this science. In a comparatively short space of time Mr Joicey accomplished much for his favourite study. File:BulletinHillMuseum1921HillMuseumExterior.jpg|alt=Sepia photograph of the outside of building with four arched windows|Hill Museum: Exterior File:BulletinHillMuseum1921HillMuseumAnnexe.jpg|alt=Sepia photograph of a long single-story barracks hut in a field|Hill Museum: Annexe File:BulletinHillMuseum1921HillMuseumInterior.jpg|alt=Sepia photograph of a room crowded with display cabinets and work benches|Hill Museum: A part of the interior File:BulletinHillMuseum1921HillMuseumPhotomicrography.jpg|alt=Sepia photograph of man adjusting photographic equipment on a bench|Hill Museum: Photomicrographic Department under Mr. H. J. Campbell File:BulletinHillMuseum1923.jpg|alt=Sepia photograph of six gentlemen standing outside on pathway stairs|Joicey (second from left) and other entomologists at the Hill Museum in 1920 File:BMNH(E)983480 Delias joiceyi Talb. female3 ventral-S.jpg|alt=Photograph of a pinned butterfly with notes below|Delias joiceyi File:BMNH(E)983400 Delias maudei J.&N. male ventral-S.jpg|alt=Photograph of a pinned butterfly with notes below|Delias maudei File:BMNH(E)141732 Delias mariae J.&T. AT female ventral-S.jpg|alt=Photograph of a pinned butterfly with notes below|Delias mariae File:Ornithoptera goliath samson f. joiceyi Noakes & Talbot, 1915.jpg|alt=Photograph of a pinned butterfly with notes below|Ornithoptera goliath samson f. joiceyi File:Annalsmagazineof8151915lond 0649.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|Ornithoptera joyceyi (male), two Delias File:Annalsmagazineof8151915lond 0651.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of a butterfly specimen|Ornithoptera joiceyi (female) File:DeudorixMaudeiMFJoiceyTalbot1916.JPG|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|Deudorix maudei File:Deudorix littoralis TypesMFUpAC1.jpg|alt=Photograph of two pinned butterflies with notes above|Deudorix littoralis (male & female types) File:Bulletin of the Hill Museum v1 1921 Plate VI.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|New Delias from Buru File:Bulletin of the Hill Museum v1 1921 Plate VII.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|New Delias from New Guinea and Buru File:Bulletin of the Hill Museum v1 1921 Plate VIII.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|New Delias from New Guinea File:Bull Hill Mus v1 Plate IX.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|New butterflies from Buru and New Guinea File:Bull Hill Mus v1 p594 Plate X.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of moth specimens|New Sphingidae File:Bull Hill Mus v1 p594 Plate XI.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of moth specimens|New Sphingidae File:Bull Hill Mus v1 Plate XII.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|New Zygaenidae File:Annalsmagazineof8151915lond 0665 with explanation.jpg|alt=Book page showing watercolour plate of butterfly specimens|Milionia, four others File:JJ Joicey cabinet Haslemere Educational Museum drawer no 14.jpg|alt=Photograph of a drawer of pinned butterflies|South American Papilio File:JJ Joicey cabinet Haslemere Educational Museum drawer no 14 close-up.jpg|alt=Photograph of pinned butterflies with notes under each|South American Papilio (detail) ==Legacy==

Joicey's Hill Museum produced more than 190 research articles which were published in a range of scientific journals. 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 ==Notes==

• Anon. 1932: [Joicey, J. J.] Entomological News 43: 140 • Anon. 1932: [Joicey, J. J.] London Naturalist 1931: 38 • Anon. 1932: [Joicey, J. J.] Nature 129: 535, 896 • Anon. 1932: [Joicey J. J.] Orchid Review 40: 118 • Anon. 1932: [Joicey J. J.] The Times (16 March) p. 9 • Gilbert, P. 2000: Butterfly Collectors and Painters: Four Centuries of Colour Plates from the Library Collections of the Natural History Museum, London. Singapore, Beaumont Publishing Pte Ltd: X+166 S, pp. 31–33 • Riley, N. D. 1932: [Joicey, J. J.] Entomologist 65: 142–144 • Turner, H. J. 1932: [Joicey, J. J.] ''Entomologist's Record & Journal of Variation'' 44: 68 ==References==