William Benham (zoologist)

Sir William Benham KBE FRS
Benham in 1907
Born	William Blaxland Benham (1860-03-29)29 March 1860 Isleworth, Middlesex, England
Died	21 August 1950(1950-08-21) (aged 90) Dunedin, New Zealand
Spouse	Beatrice Eadie (m. 1889; died 1909)
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology
Institutions	Bedford College, London University of Otago Otago Museum

He was born in Isleworth, Middlesex, England, on 29 March 1860. He studied at Marlborough College and London University and taught at Bedford College, London (now part of Royal Holloway, University of London)^[2] before moving to New Zealand in 1898.^[3] He was a member of the 1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition.^[4] From 1905 to 1911 he was the Governor in Council of the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute.^[5]

Benham was professor of biology at the University of Otago from 1898 until he retired and was given the title of professor emeritus in 1937.^[6] In 1937, he was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal,^[6] and he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1939 King's Birthday Honours.^[3]^[7] He won the Hutton Medal of the New Zealand Institute in 1911, and the Hector Medal in 1935.^[6] In 1942, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of New Zealand.^[8]

Benham died in Dunedin on 21 August 1950,^[6] and his ashes were buried in Dunedin Northern Cemetery.^[9]

Harmer, S. F.; Shipley, A. E., eds. (1896). ""Archiannelida, Polychaeta, and Myzostomaria" by W. Blaxland Benham". The Cambridge Nature History, Vol. II. pp. 241–346.^[10]
Benham, W. Blaxland (1901). Lankester, Ray (ed.). Part IV. The Platyhelmia, Mesozoa and Nemertini. A Treatise on Zoology. Adam and Charles Black.^[11]

^ Benham, William. "Biography of Sir William Benham" (PDF). Illinois Natural History Survey. Retrieved 30 November 2018.

^ ^a ^b Miller, David (1950). "Sir William Blaxland Benham, K.B.E., F.R.S., (1860–1950)". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 80. Retrieved 2 February 2016.

^ Morton, John. "William Blaxland Benham". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 December 2011.

^ "Benham, William Blaxland". Who's Who: 165. 1916.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Obituary: Sir William Benham". The Press. Vol. 86, no. 26197. 22 August 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 6 October 2022.

^ "No. 34633". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 1939. p. 3866.

^ University of New Zealand. Roll of Graduates (PDF). Wellington: Whitcombe & Tombs. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 6 October 2022.

^ "Cemeteries search". Dunedin City Council. Retrieved 6 October 2022.

^ "Review of The Cambridge Nature History, Vol. II". The Cambridge Review. 18: 229–230. 11 February 1897.

^ "Review of The Platyhelmia, Mesozoa and Nemertini by W. B. Benham". Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 93 (2418): 269–270. 1 March 1902.

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