Harold Benjamin Fantham

Born in Birmingham in 1876, he studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and went on to build a distinguished career in zoology, especially parasitology and protozoology. Reliable biographical sources describe him as a British scientist whose work ranged across parasites, fungi, and algae, and note that he later became Strathcona Professor of Zoology and head of the Department of Zoology at McGill University in Montreal.

He is remembered not only for research discoveries but also for influential scientific writing. He was a senior author of major reference works on animal parasites, and his collaborations with fellow zoologist Annie Porter were especially notable. Their books helped explain the hidden world of parasites to both specialists and wider readers.

Fantham died in 1937, while still serving at McGill. Although he is better known in scientific circles than in literary ones, his work had lasting value because it made complex biological ideas accessible and useful to generations of students, researchers, and physicians.