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	[[File:Hubert Whittell.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Hubert Whittell]]		[[File:Hubert Whittell.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Hubert Whittell]]
	'''Hubert Massey Whittell''' [[Order of the British Empire\|OBE]] (24 March 1883 – 7 February 1954) was a British [[Officer (armed forces)\|army officer]], and later an Australian farmer and [[ornithology\|ornithologist]] who compiled a history and [[bibliography]] of ornithology in Australia from its origins until the mid-20th century.		'''Hubert Massey Whittell''' [[Order of the British Empire\|OBE]] (24 March 1883 – 7 February 1954) was a British [[Officer (armed forces)\|army officer]], and later an Australian farmer and [[ornithology\|ornithologist]] who compiled a history and [[bibliography]] of ornithology in Australia from its origins until the mid-20th century.

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[[File:Hubert Whittell.jpg|thumb|right|Hubert Whittell]]
'''Hubert Massey Whittell''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (24 March 1883 – 7 February 1954) was a British [[Officer (armed forces)|army officer]], and later an Australian farmer and [[ornithology|ornithologist]] who compiled a history and [[bibliography]] of ornithology in Australia from its origins until the mid-20th century.

==Early days==
Whittell was born at [[Stratford, London|Stratford]] in Essex, England, now part of [[Greater London]]. His father, an engineer and [[naval architect]] was the [[Bombay]] representative of [[Lloyd's of London]], and Whittell grew up in both [[India]] and England, as well as attending school for a year in Germany in 1894. In 1899 he began studying medicine at [[Edinburgh University]]. In 1899, Whittell donated to Edinburgh Museum a specimen of an [[Atlantic puffin]] (''Fratercula arctica'') taken in [[County Mayo]], Ireland. His address was then given as 53, Merchiston Crescent, Edinburgh.<ref>{{cite book| author = Great Britain. Ministry of Education| title = Education: Being the Report of the Ministry of Education and the Statistics of Public Education for England and Wales| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VWQoAAAAYAAJ| year = 1900| publisher = H.M. Stationery Office }}</ref> In August 1901, he made an ornithological expedition to [[Orkney]] and collected a specimen of a [[red-necked phalarope]] (''Phalaropus hyperboreus'') from [[Stromness]].<ref>{{cite book| title = Report of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland | url = https://archive.org/details/reportcommittee04britgoog| year = 1903| publisher = H.M. Stationery Office }}</ref> However, in 1903 he gave up his medical studies to pursue a career in the [[British Army]].<ref name="Serventy">Serventy (1954).</ref><ref name="Kloot">Kloot (1990).</ref>

==Military career==
In September 1904, after service with the 2nd Battalion the [[Royal Guernsey Light Infantry]] ([[Channel Islands Militia]]), Whittell passed a competitive examination and in December was gazetted a [[second lieutenant]] in the 1st Battalion the [[Royal Sussex Regiment]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27740|date=2 December 1904|page=8294}}</ref> with which he was posted to India in 1905. In November 1907 he was promoted [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28083|date=26 November 1907|page=8191}}</ref> and transferred to the [[Indian Army (1895–1947)|Indian Army]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28092|date=24 December 1907|page=8984}}</ref> joining the [[56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force)|56th Punjabi Rifles]], being promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in 1913. He studied [[Urdu]], [[Pashto language|Pushtu]] and [[Persian language|Persian]], collected old Indian coins, went [[big game hunting]] and published papers on local history.<ref name="Kloot"/> He married Sydney Margaret O'Hara Hodgkins in 1911 in Bombay. Following the outbreak of [[World War I]] he served in France, Belgium and Egypt for the duration of the war, after which he returned to India to serve in the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] in 1919. He was twice [[mentioned in despatches]] and was promoted to major.<ref name="Serventy"/><ref name="Kloot"/> In June 1921, while serving with the Supplies and Transport Corps of the Indian Army, he was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (Military Division).<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32353|supp=y|date=10 June 1921|page=4694}}</ref> In 1926 he retired from the Indian Army and emigrated to Australia.<ref name="Serventy"/><ref name="Kloot"/>

==Ornithology==
Whittell settled with his family at [[Bridgetown, Western Australia]], {{convert|270|km}} south of [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]], where he bought an [[orchard]] and a [[dairy farm]] which he managed successfully, becoming a prosperous member of the local farming community. By 1929 he had revived a lifelong interest in birds and was ornithologically active, joining the [[Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union]] (RAOU) that year. He started building up a bird egg and skin collection, as well as establishing an ornithological library. He also made several collecting trips in the south-west and south-east of Western Australia.<ref name="Serventy"/><ref name="Kloot"/>

In 1939 Whittell became Convener of the RAOU's Checklist Committee, serving also as President of the Union 1941–1943. A keen conservationist, from 1946 he served on the State Fauna Protection Advisory Committee. In 1943 he began a collaboration with [[Dominic Serventy]] on a regional [[handbook]], the ''[[Birds of Western Australia (book)|Birds of Western Australia]]'', the first edition of which was published in 1948. From the mid-1930s he had been working on a comprehensive history and bibliography of Australian ornithology, ''[[The Literature of Australian Birds]]'', a monumental 900-page volume published in 1954 not long after his death.<ref name="Serventy"/><ref name="Kloot"/>

Whittell was described by his friend and collaborator Dom Serventy as follows:
<blockquote>”Physically he was a slight man, of restless disposition, and his [[physiognomy]], with the keen face and the alert prominent blue-grey eyes, reminded one strikingly of some of the profile portraits of [[Frederick the Great]]. Personally he was of the highest integrity and he despised any adventitious aid to advancement, such as joining the 'right' social organisations or currying favour with persons supposed to have influence. He found it difficult to suffer fools gladly and this, combined with a somewhat choleric temperament at times, alienated some of his acquaintances. Others were never quite at their ease in his presence, never knowing whether to take his quips, uttered in a clipped English accent, as real reproaches or humorous chaffing. However, when acquaintance passed to friendship his ripe observations from an intelligent and well-stocked mind, on people, places and things, combined with his essential good nature and fair dealing, made him an agreeable and congenial companion.”
<ref name="Serventy"/></blockquote>

Whittell was awarded Life Memberships of the [[St. John Ambulance|St John Ambulance Association]], the [[Returned and Services League of Australia|Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia]], and the [[Western Australian Naturalists' Club]]. He died in 1954 following long and painful complications from surgery carried out more than a year previously in December 1952. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, two sons and three grandchildren.<ref name="Serventy"/>

==Publications==
As well as numerous papers in ''[[Emu (journal)|The Emu]]'' and other journals, notes and popular articles, book-length works authored or coauthored by Whittell include:
* {{cite book |title= A Handbook of the Birds of Western Australia |author1=Serventy, D.L. |author2=Whittell, H.M. |year= 1948 |publisher= Paterson's Press Ltd |location= Perth }}
* {{cite book |title= A Systematic List of the Birds of Western Australia|author1=Whittell, H.M. |author2=Serventy, D.L. |year= 1948 |publisher= Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia|location= Perth }}
* {{cite book |title= The Literature of Australian Birds |author= Whittell, Hubert Massey |year= 1954 |publisher= Paterson Brokensha Pty Ltd |location= Perth }}

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Cited texts===
*{{cite book |title= 'Whittell, Hubert Massey (1883–1954)', in: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12 |author= Kloot, Tess |chapter= Whittell, Hubert Massey (1883–1954) |year= 1990 |publisher= Melbourne University Press |location= Melbourne |pages= 478 |url= http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120536b.htm }}
*{{cite journal |author= Serventy, D.L.|year= 1954|title= The late Major H.M. Whittell, O.B.E. – an appreciation|journal= Emu|volume= 54|issue= 1|pages= 61–67|doi=10.1071/mu954061}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittell, Hubert Massey}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Guernsey Light Infantry soldiers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Essex]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Royal Sussex Regiment officers]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Australian ornithologists]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Australian nature writers]]
[[Category:English emigrants to Australia]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian zoologists]]

Hubert Whittell - Revision history

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