Thomas Coward

Thomas Alfred Coward, MSc, FZS, FRES, MBOU (1867 – 29 January 1933), was an English ornithologist and an amateur astronomer. He wrote extensively on natural history, local history and Cheshire.

He was born at 8 Higher Downs, Bowdon, then a village in Cheshire. His parents were Thomas and Sarah, and older siblings Charles, Alice and Annie.

He was educated at Brooklands School, Sale and at Owens College (now Manchester University).

In the early 1900s he was employed at his father's calico bleaching and finishing firm, Messrs. Melland and Coward. He retired when his father sold the firm.

His first book was "The Birds of Cheshire", published in 1900, when he was living in Hale. His three-volume "The Birds of the British Isles and their eggs" (1920-1925) was illustrated by Archibald Thorburn and was "acknowledged as being the book that did more to popularise the study of birds than any other publication produced during the first part of the twentieth century" [http://www.10x50.com/coward/coward.htm Knutsford Ornithological Society's biography of Coward] ] . It was revised by Arnold Boyd for a new edition in 1950.

He was a long-time contributor to The Guardian's "Country Diary" column, until his death.

He married Mary Milne in 1904. There is a Blue Plaque at his former home, Brentwood Villa, 6 Grange Road, Bowdon, to which he moved in 1911.

On his death, Cotterill Clough Nature Reserve was bought, by public subscription, in his honour.

All of his field notes are archived at in the Department of Zoology at Oxford.

Positions

*Acting Keeper of the Manchester Museum (During World War I)
*Chairman and President of the Altrincham and District Natural History and Literary Society

Bibliography

*"The Birds of Cheshire", 1900, written jointly with Charles Oldham (1868-1942).
*"Picturesque Cheshire"
*"The Vertebrate Fauna of Cheshire and Liverpool Bay", 1910, written jointly with Charles Oldham and James Johnstone.
*"The Birds of the British Isles and their Eggs" Frederick Warne & Co, 1926
**There was a further edditon, as late as 1975
*"Bird Haunts and Nature Memories"
*"Life of the Wayside and Woodland"
*"Bird Life at Home and Abroad"
*"Bird and Other Nature Problems"
*"Cheshire - Traditions and History"
*"The Mammalian Fauna of Cheshire"

Contributions

*"The Practical Handbook of British Birds", Witherby & Co, 1920

References

* [http://althistsoc.users.btopenworld.com/biogs.html Altrincham History Society]