author

Cecil Warburton

1854–1958

A long-lived British zoologist who helped turn the study of spiders and ticks into practical science. His work connected natural history with medicine and agriculture, especially through research on species that affected animal and human health.

2 Audiobooks

The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 04 (of 10)

The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 04 (of 10)

by Geoffrey Smith, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Cecil Warburton, Walter Frank Raphael Weldon, Henry Woods

Spiders

Spiders

by Cecil Warburton

About the author

Born in Salford on February 6, 1854, Cecil Warburton was educated in Manchester before going on to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he earned his BA in 1889 and MA in 1892. After teaching for a time, he joined the Royal Agricultural Society in 1893 and taught at the School of Agriculture in Cambridge.

Warburton became known for his work as a zoologist, arachnologist, and acarologist, with a special focus on ticks of medical and veterinary importance. From 1909 he worked with G. H. F. Nuttall in Cambridge, later becoming a university demonstrator in medical entomology and moving with Nuttall to the Molteno Institute in 1921. He also contributed to the Cambridge Natural History volume on arachnids and described many tick species in scientific journals.

He lived to the remarkable age of 104 and died on October 7, 1958, at his home in Grantchester, near Cambridge. Warburton's career is a good example of how careful observation of the natural world could lead to work with real importance for farming, veterinary science, and public health.