China, William Edward

William China was born in London on December 7, 1895. His university education was in London and Cambridge, but was interrupted by World War I. In that war, he served in France, first in the British army, later in the Royal Air Force. He returned to Cambridge University and earned a degree in zoology. In January 1922, he was appointed assistant in the Department of Entomology of the British Museum (Natural History), in 1930 assistant keeper, and eventually in 1955, keeper. His subject of research was the taxonomy of Hemiptera, in which he eventually published 265 papers, describing 98 new genera and 248 species. During World War II, he was deeply involved in temporarily moving the national insect collections out of London to prevent damage or loss. His research resulted in his award in 1948 of a D.Sc. degree by Cambridge University. He retired in 1970 to a little fishing village in the county of Cornwall, where he died on September 17, 1979, survived by his wife Lita and three...