Henry Morris Upcher
(1839-1921), Naturalist and ornithologistSitter in 1 portrait
by Camille Silvy
albumen print, 7 October 1862
NPG Ax61636
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Frances Cairncross
18 June 2020, 18:46
See https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V15/V15_N01/V15_N01_P016_017_OB005.pdf. Upcher’s Warbler is named after him. He is really interesting. He married Maria Hester, a distant ancestor of my great-aunt’s husband and part of the Norfolk-based Newcome family..
John Lloyd
19 April 2022, 12:54
I've been doing some research for the upcoming 'U' series of QI, and came across Upcher and his warbler. Here's what I found out about him:
Henry Morris Upcher (1839-1921) was an English naturalist and ornithologist. He was born the oldest of six brothers at Sheringham Hall, Norfolk.
s: https://archive.org/details/ibis311brit/page/540/mode/1up?view=theater
In 1864, Upcher became a Fellow of the Zoological Society and joined the British Ornithologists Union. In 1883, he was elected President of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, and in 1899 was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk.
s: https://archive.org/details/ibis311brit/page/540/mode/1up?view=theater
In 1908, Upcher attended the special Jubilee meeting of the British Ornithologists Union and, as the oldest serving member, was invited to take the chair and present medals to the Union’s four surviving original members.
s: https://archive.org/details/ibis311brit/page/540/mode/1up?view=theater
Though an avid naturalist, Upcher was better known in his lifetime as a keen sportsman and a fine shot. His favourite gamebird was the woodcock, of which his obituary stated: ‘he had possibly brought down as many to his own gun as any man in England’.
s: https://archive.org/details/ibis311brit/page/540/mode/1up?view=theater
In 1858, Henry Morris Upcher shot 36 woodcocks in one day.
s: https://archive.org/details/ibis311brit/page/540/mode/1up?view=theater
On a visit to Palestine in 1864 with his friend Canon Henry Baker Tristram, Upcher was so quick with his gun that he was nicknamed ‘a father of two eyes’ by the local Arabs.
s: https://britishbirds.co.uk/sites/default/files/V15_N01_P016-017_OB005.pdf
There is a photograph of Henry Morris Upcher in the National Portrait Gallery.
s: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp162647/henry-morris-upcher