Arthur Pycroft

Pycroft was born in 1875 in Auckland. His mother was Sarah Pycroft ({{nee|Alderton}}) and his father was Henry T. Pycroft (1842–1909), a teacher and the eldest son of Sir Thomas Pycroft (1807–1892). His grandfather had been a member of the Madras Legislative Council from 1862 to 1867.{{cite news |title=Deaths |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19090302.2.2.3 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=XLVI |issue=13998 |date=2 March 1909 |page=1}}{{cite web |title=The Pycroft Collection of Rare Books |url= https://issuu.com/artandobject/docs/a_o_cat_49_issuu |publisher=Art+Object |access-date=22 January 2021 |page=2 |date=11 October 2011}} Henry Pycroft had come to New Zealand in 1866,{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TC19090316.2.14 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Colonist |volume=LI |issue=12489 |date=16 March 1909 |page=2}} and Sarah and he married at Wanganui in December 1872.{{cite news |title=Marriages |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18730103.2.41.2 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=X |issue=2787 |date=3 January 1873 |page=7}}

In January 1876, Pycroft's father had a position confirmed at a school in Pōkeno in Waikato,{{cite news |title=Board of Education |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18760114.2.21 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=XIII |issue=4421 |date=14 January 1876 |page=3}} but by May 1876 he became assistant master at the City West school in Auckland.{{cite news |title=Board of Education |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18760114.2.21 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=XIII |issue=4523 |date=12 May 1876 |page=3}} In 1878, his father was master at Ponsonby Grammar School,{{cite news |title=Educational |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18780123.2.2.8 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=XV |issue=5050 |date=23 January 1878 |page=1}} and from 1883 to 1886, he was headmaster at the Church of England Grammar School in Parnell which Arthur attended as a pupil. Arthur's secondary education was at Auckland Grammar School in the adjacent suburb of Epsom.

Pycroft's father died in February 1909. On 27 November 1909, Pycroft married Minna Monica Vere Harris (known as Minna) at Christ Church in Whangārei.{{cite news |title=Marriages |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19091224.2.2.2 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=XLVI |issue=14252 |date=24 December 1909 |page=1}} Her father, J. Duncan Harris, was district manager for the railways at Whangārei.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19050608.2.56 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |volume=XXXVI |issue=136 |date=8 June 1905 |page=5}} They had one son, Lansley Thomas James Pycroft, born on 4 October 1914 at their Parnell residence.{{cite news |title=Births |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19141006.2.2.1 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=LI |issue=15732 |date=6 October 1914 |page=1}} Minna Pycroft was second cousin to Noël B. Livingston (his maternal grandparents—Francis and Eleanor Harris—were her paternal grandparents) who was a member of the Supreme Court of Jamaica; the Livingstons visited the Pycrofts in 1934.{{cite news |title=Fortunate Jamaica |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19340210.2.122 |access-date=29 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=LXXI |issue=21722 |date=10 February 1934 |page=14}}

Aged 15, Pycroft started working for the New Zealand Railways Department. He worked his way up and gained the rank of station master in the Bay of Islands. In Auckland, he gained a senior management position.{{cite news |title='Last great private library' under hammer |url= https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/last-great-private-library-under-hammer/KN7MMTLIQVZVDUEGAVHSW6EQUQ/ |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=29 October 2011}}

He retired from work in 1925 at the age of 50 after receiving a substantial inheritance from England.

File:Pterodroma pycrofti (AM LB4281).jpg as named by Robert Falla]]

File:Xeronema.jpg, a rare plant that Pycroft grew in his garden]]

Pycroft's real enthusiasm was for natural history, ornithology, and taxidermy.

All throughout his life, he collaborated with scientists, naturalists, and museum directors, and he was regarded as a respected colleague. One of his colleagues was Sir Walter Buller, with whom he corresponded about many bird species that Buller would later include in his 1905 Supplement to the History of the Birds of New Zealand, which amended his classic book A History of the Birds of New Zealand. Buller praised Pycroft for his "easy, scholarly, but modest style".{{cite journal |last1=Falla |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Falla |title=Obituary |journal=Notornis |date=June 1972 |volume=19 |page=191 |url= https://www.notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_19_2.pdf |access-date=22 January 2021}}

As was customary at the time, Pycroft collected birds by shooting them; even rare ones. He practised taxidermy and when a huia was delivered to him around 1905, he skinned the bird and had it cooked for his supper.{{cite news |last1=Herrick |first1=Linda |title=The Feathered Drawer by Hamish Foote |url= https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/emthe-feathered-drawerem-by-hamish-foote/WQYC2LWIZWQ4FJE2WJM5RBUOOY/ |access-date=29 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=14 March 2006}} Within two years of that incident, the last confirmed sighting of a huia was recorded.{{cite news |last1=Fletcher |first1=Jack |title=Huia-like bird could sing from the branches once again, but what are the limits? |url= https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/92490241/huialike-bird-could-sing-from-the-branches-once-again-but-what-are-the-limits |access-date=30 January 2021 |work=Stuff |date=11 May 2017}} Auckland contemporary artist Hamish Foote exhibited a painting Pycroft's Supper in 2006 that illustrates the "tragic" story; huia were revered by both Māori and colonial settlers.

According to Robert Falla, who wrote Pycroft's obituary for the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Pycroft had no interest in being a published author of scientific papers. He had an article published in the 1898 Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute titled On Birds of the Bay of Islands.{{cite journal |last1=Pycroft |first1=A. T. |title=Birds of the Bay of Islands |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand |date=1898 |volume=31 |pages=141–146 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TPRSNZ1898-31.2.6.1.16 |access-date=22 January 2021}} Pycroft seldom wrote scientific texts afterwards but had a weekly column in the Auckland Star titled Ways of the Wild through which he reported on his expeditions.

Pycroft went on many expeditions to the country's offshore islands. Some of these he organised for other ornithologists and naturalists to join him. He was particularly fond of Taranga Island (also known as Hen Island), the largest of the Hen and Chicken Islands east of Auckland. His first visit to Taranga Island was during the 1903–04 summer when he spent six weeks there. Robert Falla described a new species of petrel in 1933 (Pterodroma pycrofti) that is found on islands off the North Island and first seen on Taranga Island. In recognition of Pycroft's ornithological work, Falla named it Pycroft's petrel.

After he retired from work in 1925, Pycroft had more time for ornithology. He went to Little Barrier Island in 1928, the Kermadec Islands in 1929 alongside Herbert Guthrie-Smith, and Melanesia in 1932. Pycroft's wife Minna was acknowledged for her skill in preparing ornithological and botanical drawings.

Pycroft joined the Auckland Institute, the membership organisation of Auckland Museum, in 1896. He was on the council of the institute for over 40 years. He held membership of the Auckland Institute for 75 years. At the Institute's annual meeting on 15 May 1935, he was elected president for the coming year.{{cite news |title=Museum work |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19350516.2.186 |access-date=30 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |volume=LXVI |issue=114 |date=16 May 1935 |page=18}} During his presidency, he was granted leave in March 1936 "for the remainder of the year" to go to England.{{cite news |title=Going overseas |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19360319.2.15 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |volume=LXVII |issue=67 |date=19 March 1936 |page=5}} The Pycrofts left with their son on 3 April 1936 on the Monowai.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19360403.2.19 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |volume=LXVII |issue=80 |date=3 April 1936 |page=3}} The journey took longer than anticipated; the Pycrofts were away until October 1939.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19360403.2.19 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |issue=238 |date=9 October 1939 |page=3}}{{cite news |title=Personal items |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19391009.2.98 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=LXXVI |issue=23472 |date=9 October 1939 |page=11}} While in England, Pycroft indulged in another of his hobbies—collecting rare books—and visited many antique bookshops.

Later in his life, he came to prominence with research on moa, where he worked alongside Gilbert Archey, Frank Mappin, and Carrick Robertson.{{cite news |title=Many years devoted to museum |work=The New Zealand Herald |at=section 1, page 8 |date=16 November 1971}}

The Pycrofts had their family home in Saint Heliers. With {{convert|4|ha}}, they had a large garden and Pycroft used it to grow rare plants sourced during island expeditions, including Xeronema callistemon (Poor Knights lily).

File:Tamaki Drive Cycleway On A Sunny Day.jpg in 2007]]

In May 1922, Pycroft stood for the Tamaki West Road Board and was elected.{{cite news |title=Road Board elections |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19220505.2.105 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=LIX |issue=18082 |date=5 May 1922 |page=8}} He was re-elected in May 1924 and topped the poll.{{cite news |title=Tamaki West Road Board |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19240509.2.27.4 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=LXI |issue=18704 |date=9 May 1924 |page=6}} In April 1927, Pycroft announced that he would not stand in the upcoming election.{{cite news |title=Tamaki Road Board |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19270422.2.103 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |page=9 |volume=LVIII |issue=94 |date=22 April 1927}} During Pycroft's time on the road board, Tamaki Drive (then referred to as the waterfront road) was built.{{cite news |title=Progress of Tamaki |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19270528.2.92 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |volume=LVIII |issue=124 |date=28 May 1927 |page=11}}{{cite news |title=Personality of the week |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19350518.2.51 |access-date=22 January 2021 |work=Auckland Star |volume=LXVI |issue=116 |date=18 May 1935 |page=8}}

Minna Pycroft died in August 1970,{{cite web|url=http://natlib.govt.nz/records/37015849|publisher=National Library of New Zealand|title=Pycroft, Minna Monica Vere, 1882–1970|accessdate=9 February 2021}} and Arthur Pycroft died on 8 November 1971{{efn|Note that two obituaries that are available online, AGMANZ News{{cite journal |title=Obituary |journal=AGMANZ News |date=February 1972 |volume=11 |issue=12 |pages=10f |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/media/uploads/2017_10/AGMANZ_News_Volume_2_Number_12_February_1972.pdf |access-date=13 February 2021}} and Notornis, show an incorrect death date of 26 November 1971. Both these obituaries were written months after his death.}} at his Saint Heliers residence.{{cite news |title=Deaths |work=The New Zealand Herald |at=section 2, page 14 |date=9 November 1971 }} Both are buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank. His library was put up for auction in 2011, 40 years after his death. It was described as the "last great private library" in New Zealand, with an auctioneer stating that a private library of similar status had last been put up for sale in 1983.

Pycroft Place in Saint Heliers is a cul-de-sac where the family had their home. Pycroft's petrel is the species of petrel named after him.

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• [https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/record/am_library-photography-63010 Photo of Pycroft] as an old man
• {{Find a Grave | id=182032238 | name=Arthur Thomas Pycroft}} – includes photo of headstone with life ranges for the Pycrofts; note his death date is shown as 8 November 1971, which differs from obituaries published during 1972

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Category:1875 births

Category:1971 deaths

Category:People from Auckland

Category:People educated at Auckland Grammar School

Category:New Zealand naturalists

Category:New Zealand ornithologists

Category:New Zealand collectors

Category:Burials at Purewa Cemetery

Category:20th-century naturalists

Category:20th-century New Zealand zoologists