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Draft:Agnes Brownlee Forrest Freeland Morton

Agnes Brownlee Forrest Freeland Morton (1863–1943), known before her marriage in 1888 as Miss A. B. Freeland, was a Scottish entomologist. Although she did not publish occurrence data herself, Freeland Morton is credited as an occasional collector and skilled locator of insects in notices and papers by her husband Kenneth John Morton and some of her specimens exist today in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland and the Natural History Museum, London.

Family

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Freeland Morton was born on 7 January 1863.[1] Her parents were Hugh Freeland (1832–1900) who was a Messenger-at-Arms of Glasgow, and Margaret Ross Forrest (1835–1907), who had married on 30 January 1862.[2] Freeland Morton had four younger siblings, including a sister named Amelia (born circa 1873, known as Amy or Aimée) who married the engineer John Alexander Brodie in 1897.[3][4]

 
Two views of a specimen of Oecetis furva (Rambur, 1842) collected by Miss Freeland at Glaslough, Ireland on 25 July 1885 (NHMUK012505565)

Early insect collecting and marriage to Kenneth John Morton

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Circa September 1883, Kenneth John Morton recorded in The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine that he had been sent a collection of caddisflies by Miss A. B. Freeland.[5] Freeland had collected the insects in July 1883 while at Glaslough in Ireland,[5] most likely while staying at Castle Leslie: she sent Morton a second collection from the same locality in 1887 and some of these specimens are now at the National Museums of Scotland.[6] Freeland's collection included examples of Oecetis furva (Rambur, 1842) which by 1883 had only rarely been recorded in the British Isles.[5] A few of Freeland's Glaslough specimens collected in 1885 became part of the collection of English entomologist Robert McLachlan, now at the Natural History Museum, London, presumably gifted to McLachlan by Morton or Freeland herself.[7][8][9][10]

In November 1887 Morton published a notice about the caddisfly Tinodes maculicornis (Pictet, 1834) which he had found in collections from Glaslough made in 1887: Morton observed that the insects collected in 1887 would have been the first noted occurrence in the British Isles other than he had realised Freeland's 1883 Glaslough collection had contained some unset examples of the insect that he had initially overlooked.[11]

It is not recorded whether Morton and Freeland had known each other previously to their contact in 1883, but they were married five years later on 4 April 1888 at Rokeby, Uddingston.[12]

Married life and continued entomological work

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During their marriage the Mortons had four children: Marguerite Ross Forrest Morton (1889–1972)[13] Helena Valentine Morton (c.1890-1906),[14] Andrew Morton (born and died 1891)[15] and Kenneth Valentine Freeland Morton (c.1907-2003, who worked in the Indian Civil Service).[16][17][18]

Freeland Morton accompanied her husband on a fieldwork collecting trip to Norway in the summer of 1900, where Morton said: "I was accompanied by my wife, and her net and quick eye contributed largely to the results, particularly in Lepidoptera."[19] They were following guidance given to Kenneth by Thomas Algernon Chapman, who had visited Norway previously to search for butterflies, in the summer of 1898.[20]

In 1904 Kenneth Morton described the new Trichoptera species Oxyethira mirabilis,[21][22] but he had discovered only one example of the insect and had needed to make a microscopic preparation before satisfying himself that it was a new species, therefore missing out on describing its general appearance. As Kenneth was unable to return to the species locality of Loch Eigheach in Perthshire, Agnes returned to the locality twice herself attempting to locate more examples for him - although she was unsuccessful she did manage to collect some examples of Oxyethira tristella Klapalek, 1895.[21]

In July of 1904 the Mortons visited Dr Friedrich Ris in Switzerland, so Kenneth Morton could meet Ris in person after exchanging letters for many years. The group went out searching for dragonflies around Zurich and Morton recorded that he had collected a single male, followed by his wife collecting a pair of Anax parthenope (Selys, 1839), a task which was rather difficult.[23] Using information and maps about possible species localities provided by Ris, the Mortons combined Swiss fieldwork with travel, including a stay at Lenzerheide.[23]

On July 26 1912, Kenneth recorded a male of caddisfly species Mesophylax impunctatus McLachlan, 1884 settling on Agnes's dress while she rested on the shore of Loch Tay[24] - a rare sighting. By coincidence Kenneth Morton had also been the person to record the insect's last previously known appearance in Britain, 9 years earlier at Coniston in England.[25]

Death

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Agnes Freeland Morton died on 23 April 1943.[26] Kenneth Morton had predeceased her on 29 January 1940[27]: they were laid to rest in a family plot at Old Carluke Cemetery.[28][29]

References

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  1. ^ "Agnes Brownlee Freeland Morton (1863–1943) - Find..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  2. ^ "BIRTHS, MARRIAGES & DEATHS: MARRIAGES [Mr Hugh Freeland, messenger-at-arms, Glasgow, to Margaret Ross, eldest daughter of Mr Robert Forrest, miller, Carluke]". North British Agriculturalist. 5 February 1862. p. 22 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ ""Giant Among Engineers": Death of Mr John A. Brodie". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 6 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ 1881: FREELAND, AGNES B (Census 644/9 63/1) page 1 of 26 [Agnes Brownlee Freeland, aged 18, on the 1881 Census with her family at Maryhill, Glasgow] - Via Scotland's People
  5. ^ a b c Morton, Kenneth J (November 1883). "Occurrence of Oecetis furva, Ramb., and other Trichoptera in Co. Monaghan, Ireland". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine: 142 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  6. ^ O'Connor, Charles P (2015). "A Catalogue and Atlas of the Caddisflies (Trichoptera) of Ireland" (PDF). Occasional Publication of the Irish Biogeographical Society (11): 11 – via Irish Biogeographical Society.
  7. ^ "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK012505552 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  8. ^ "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK012505565 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  9. ^ "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK012505578 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  10. ^ "Collection specimens - Specimens - NHMUK012505589 - Data Portal". data.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  11. ^ Morton, Kenneth J (November 1887). "Another caddis-fly new to the British Isles: Tinodes maculicornis, Pict". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 24: 136 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  12. ^ "MARRIAGE: MORTON - FREELAND". The Hamilton Advertiser. 7 April 1888. p. 1 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ 1972 MORTON, MARGUERITE R F (Statutory registers deaths 744/102) [death of Marguerite Ross Forrest Morton, born 3 February 1889] - via Scotland's People
  14. ^ "Helena Valentine Morton (1890–1906) - Find a..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  15. ^ 1891 MORTON, Andrew (Statutory registers Deaths 629/168) - via Scotland's People
  16. ^ MORTON, KENNETH J (Census 685/6 3/ 21) page 21 of 24 [Kenneth J Morton on the 1911 census, showing as a household member his son Kenneth Valentine Morton aged 3] - Via Scotland's People
  17. ^ MORTON: KENNETH VALENTINE FREELAND: date of death 17 January 2003 [probate at Winchester] - via probatesearch.service.gov.uk
  18. ^ "Betrothals [Kenneth Valentine Freeland Morton and Mary Hadwin Hargreaves]". Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore). 23 February 1936. p. 2 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
  19. ^ Morton, Kenneth J (January 1901). "Trichoptera, Neuroptera-Plannipennia, Odonata and Rhopalocera collected in Norway in the summer of 1900". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 37: 24–33 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  20. ^ Chapman, T A (January 1899). "Butterflies in South and North Norway". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 35: 20–28 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  21. ^ a b Morton, Kenneth J (1904). "Further notes on Hydroptilidae belonging to the European fauna, with descriptions of new species". Transactions of the Entomological Society of London: 327 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  22. ^ "Oxyethira mirabilis Morton, 1904". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  23. ^ a b Morton, Kenneth J (January 1905). "Dragon-fly hunting in eastern Switzerland". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 41: 1–4 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  24. ^ Morton, Kenneth J (November 1913). "Mesophylax impunctatus, &c., in Perthshire". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 49: 259 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  25. ^ Morton, Kenneth J (March 1904). "Neuroptera and Trichoptera observed in the Lake District". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 40: 53 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  26. ^ Probate Calendar for England and Wales for 1943: FREELAND or MORTON Agnes Brownlee died 23 April 1943 | Sealed Lllandudno 13 August. [page 279. Accessed through probatesearch.service.gov.uk]
  27. ^ "The Late Mr K J Morton". Edinburgh Evening News. 30 January 1940. p. 2 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
  28. ^ "Agnes Brownlee Freeland Morton (1863–1943) - Find..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  29. ^ "Kenneth John Morton (1858–1940) - Find a Grave..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.

Category:1863 births Category:1943 deaths Category:Scottish entomologists

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