Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton

Born on 27 January 1856, Edward Bagnall Poulton was an English zoologist and evolutionary thinker whose career was closely tied to the University of Oxford. He became known for careful studies of insects and for his strong support of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

Poulton wrote influential books for general and specialist readers alike, including The Colours of Animals (1890). He is often associated with early work on protective coloration, warning coloration, and mimicry, and he helped keep evolutionary debate lively during a period when natural selection was under heavy scrutiny.

He was later knighted and remained an important scientific figure well into the twentieth century. Poulton died on 20 November 1943, leaving behind a body of work that connected close observation of animals with some of the biggest questions in evolution.