Henry Travers (naturalist)

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2017}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Henry Travers

| birth_name = Henry Hammersley Travers

| birth_date = 1844

| birth_place = Hythe, Kent, England

| death_date = 16 January 1926

| death_place = Wellington, New Zealand

| nationality = New Zealand

| occupation = Naturalist, collector, taxidermist

| education = Nelson College

| relatives = William Travers (father)

}}

Henry Hammersley Travers (1844 – 16 February 1928) was a New Zealand naturalist, professional collector and taxidermist. He was the son of the politician William Travers.

Born in Hythe, Kent, England, in 1844,{{cite book |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc01Cycl-t1-body-d4-d117-d6.html |chapter=Travers, Henry Hammersley | title=Cyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington Provincial District) |year=1897 |publisher=Cyclopedia Company | place=Wellington |access-date=28 January 2017}} and baptised at Cheriton, Kent, on 13 October of that year,{{cite web |url=http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=FS1EnglandBirthsandChristenings&h=63795818 |title=England, select births and christenings, 1538–1975 |year=2014 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |access-date=28 January 2017 |url-access=subscription }} Travers was the son of William Thomas Locke Travers and Jane Travers (née Oldham).{{DNZB | title=Travers, William Thomas Locke | first=R. Winsome | last=Shepherd | id=1t105| accessdate=28 January 2017}} The family emigrated to New Zealand by the ship Kelso in 1849. Travers was educated at Nelson College from 1856 to 1860.{{cite book | chapter=Full school list of Nelson College, 1856–2005 | title=Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006 | year=2006 | edition=6th | type=CD-ROM}}

Specimens collected by Travers are in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.{{Cite web | title = Travers, Henry | work = Collections Online | publisher = Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa | url = http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Party.aspx?irn=2714 | access-date = 16 July 2010}}

Travers collected some of the last known specimens of Lyall's wren, selling them to the Colonial Museum (now Te Papa), Otago Museum and Walter Rothschild.{{Cite journal|last1=Galbreath|first1=R|last2=Brown|first2=D|date=2004|title=The tale of the lighthouse-keeper's cat: Discovery and extinction of the Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli).|url=http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_51_4_193.pdf|journal=Notornis|volume=51|pages=193–200|access-date=14 September 2020|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051737/http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_51_4_193.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Travers died in Wellington on 16 February 1928.{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19280216.2.4 | title=Deaths | date=16 February 1928 | work=Evening Post | access-date=28 January 2017 | page=1}}