Although his name does not occur regularly in ornithological circles today, Edward Bidwell joined the BOU in 1880 (aged 35) and, despite lacking scientific training, became a Committee Member in 1887 (until 1890). He joined the BOC on its formation and became a Committee Member in 1910, when in his mid-sixties, and remained in post until 1913. He served as a Vice President until his death in 1929 (aged 84), having attended the majority of BOC Meetings from its foundation until 1921.
Bidwell was an East Anglian, born in Norwich in November 1845. He attended Ipswich Grammar School, moved to London, and went into business as a paper agent. He was an avid collector of bird specimens, their eggs, and much else besides. In 1881, he married Catherine Cooper Cotman, a granddaughter of John Sell Cotman, the famous Norwich marine and landscape artist, and went on to have four children with her.
As a regular attendee at prominent auction houses, he amassed a collection of antique lamps, candlesticks, candle snuffers and fire making implements, as well as bird specimens and eggs, while pursuing his ornithological fascination with the eggs of the Great Auk.
In 1884, he purchased from Rev. G.W. Braikenridge one of the 10 Great Auk eggs that had been discovered by Professor Newton in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1861. The College auctioned 7 of the 10 in 1864 and 1865, one of which was purchased by Rev. Braikenridge. Bidwell kept this egg until 1911, when he sold it to Thomas Parkin. He made a painstaking census of all the Great Auk eggs he could locate, with photographs of each, missing out on only two eggs then residing in the USA. His photographs were exhibited at a meeting of the BOC in March 1894. This study gave rise to the ‘Bidwell List’ – showing the Owners of Great Auk Eggs, and which was intended to be updated as changes took place. The sale of his own Great Auk egg did not seem to diminish his interest in the species, and he continued to seek out Great Auk eggs and to assist Mr. Parkin with his 1911 publication “The Great Auk: A record of sales of Birds and Eggs by public auction in GB, 1806-1910”. By 1914, he had located more eggs and believed that there were at least 74 Great Auk eggs in existence at the time.
Earlier, in 1893, he joined H.J. and C. Pearson on a successful expedition to north Norway, which formed the topic of a paper in The Ibis in 1894. Following this trip, he gave specimens of birds and eggs to several UK museums, and provided Gannets, Kittiwakes and divers for the Bass Rock exhibit in the Bird Gallery at the Natural History Museum.
He became president of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society in 1918-19, having been a member since 1877. In his Presidential Address to that Society, he confessed that he had done little work in Ornithology for the previous 20 years. Rather, he had been fascinated instead with the Discovery of Fire, and its pivotal role in the evolution of primeval man. In 1919, he called for the NNNS to create a junior section, aware that such organisations needed to encourage younger participants.
Before his interest in ornithology waned, he had shown that his ornithological interests extended beyond the Great Auk. For example, in 1896 he exhibited the eggs of 919 Cuckoos at a BOC meeting, together with the eggs of their 76 brood parasite species.
Without apparently intending it as a legacy, he sold part of his collection of fire making equipment to the Wellcome Trust in 1922, and the balance, plus lamps, candlesticks, and so on, to Bryant & May in 1926, for display at their new museum. This collection was lent to the Science Museum in 1937.
Edward Bidwell’s obituary (Ibis 1930) describes him as “a born collector, with a marvellous memory ….and immense fund of knowledge that could always be relied upon”. To have been an expert in both ornithology and fire making is worthy of note. Few have given rise to exhibits at both the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.
Author Information
R W Malin
Hon Treasurer
