Richard Fitter

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Richard Sidney Richmond Fitter (born March 1, 1913 in Streatham , London , † September 3, 2005 in Cambridge ) was a British naturalist and conservationist. His main interests were ornithology and wildflowers . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Fitter ".

Life

Fitter was the son of Sidney Harry and Dorothy Isacke Fitter, nee Pound. His father was a stockbroker. From 1926 to 1929 Fitter was trained at Eastbourne College , where his passion for natural history was sparked. From 1929 to 1932 he completed a degree in economics at the London School of Economics , which he completed as a Bachelor of Science. In 1936 Fitter was employed by the think tank Political and Economic Planning (PEP), where ornithologist Edward Max Nicholson was general secretary. In 1938 Fitter married Alice Mary "Maisie" Stewart Park (1912-1996). This marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter. Maisie Fitter was an editor for conservation magazine Oryx . His older son Julian Richmond (* 1944) was director of the Galapagos Conservation Trust from 1994 to 1997 , while his younger son Alastair Hugh (* 1948) was an ecologist and professor at the University of York . In 1940 Fitter moved from PEP to Mass Observation , a social research organization headed by ornithologist and anthropologist Tom Harrisson . Here surveys of civil morality were carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Information .

In 1942 he was appointed to the operational research department of the Royal Air Force Coastal Command . Here he worked as assistant editor of the journal Coastal Command Review until the end of World War II . During this tenure, Fitter developed the ability to write technical reports in a concise and clear style, which benefited him in his later career.

From 1945 to 1946, Fitter was secretary of the Wildlife Conservation Special Committee of the Hobhouse National Parks Committee, founded by Julian Huxley , whose reports led to the creation of the government agency Nature Conservancy in 1949 . From 1946 to 1959 he was assistant editor at The Countryman magazine . From 1958 to 1966 he was a freelance reporter for the British weekly newspaper The Observer . From 1959 to 1963 he was head of the information department (Intelligence Unit) of the Council of Nature . From 1965 to 1972 he was an editor at Kingfisher magazine .

Fonts

  • London's Natural History New Naturalist No. 3, 1945
  • London's Birds (Collins), 1949
  • Home Counties (About Britain Series; No. 3), 1951
  • Contributions to the Bibliography of the Natural History of the London Area: No.2: A Subject Index of the Society's Journals , 1941–1951, 1952
  • The Pocket Guide to British Birds (illustrated by Richard Richardson), 1952
  • Birds of Town and Village (Collins Naturalist Series), 1953
  • The Natural History of the City , 1953
  • The Pocket Guide to Nests and Eggs , 1955
  • Fontana Bird Guide (Fontana Series), 1956
  • Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers (with David McClintock), 1956
  • Fontana Wild Flower Guide , 1957
  • Your Book of Bird Watching , 1958
  • The Ark in Our Midst: The Story of the Introduced Animals af Britain; Birds, Beasts, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fishes , 1959
  • The 'Countryman' nature book: An anthology from 'The Countryman' , 1960
  • Your Book About Wild Flowers , 1960
  • Collins Guide to Bird Watching (illustrated by Richard Richardson), 1963
  • Fitters Rural Rides: The Observer Illustrated Map-Guide to the Countryside , 1963
  • Wildlife in Britain (Pelican Books), 1963
  • Wildlife - and Death (Take Home Books), 1964
  • Britain's wildlife: Rarities and Introductions , 1966
  • Pocket Guide to British Birds (with Richard Richardson), 1966
  • The Penguin Dictionary of British Natural History (with Maisie Fitter), 1967
  • Pocket Guide to Nests and Eggs , 1968
  • Vanishing Wild Animals of the World , 1968
  • Guide to Bird Watching , 1970
  • Mammals to The Shell Natural History of Britain , 1970
  • Finding Wild Flowers , 1971
  • Birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East (with illustrations by Hermann Heinzel and distribution maps by John Parslow), 1972
  • The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (with William Plomer, illustrated by Alan Aldridge), 1973
  • Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Pocket Guide) (with Alastair Fitter, Marjorie Blamey), 1974
  • Penitent Butchers: The Fauna Preservation Society 1903–1978 (with Peter Markham Scott ), 1978
  • Collins Gem Wild Flowers (with Marjorie Blamey), 1980
  • The Complete Guide to British Wildlife (with Alastair Fitter, illustrated by Norman Arlott ), 1981
  • Grasses, Sedges, Rushes & Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Pocket Guide) (with Alastair Fitter, Ann Farrer), 1984
  • Collins Guide to the Countryside (with Alastair Fitter), 1984
  • A Dictionary of Birds (edited by Bruce Campbell and Elizabeth Lack ), 1985
  • Wild Life of the Thames Counties (edited by Richard Fitter), 1985
  • A Field Guide to Freshwater Life in Britain and North-west Europe (Collins Field Guide) (with Richard Manuel), 1986
  • Wild Life for Man (with Norman Arlott), 1986
  • Collins Guide to the Countryside in Winter (Collins Handguide) (with Alastair Fitter), 1988
  • Wild Flowers (Collins Gem Series) (with Martin Walters), 1999
  • The Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora (with Alastair Fitter, Marjorie Blamey), 2003

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Fitter, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fitter, Richard Sidney Richmond (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British naturalist and conservationist
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Streatham , London
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 2005
Place of death Cambridge