Kenneth Bowman
undated photo 1950, Edmonton
Kenneth Bowman (1875-1955) was born in Durham, England, and came to ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ in 1904. He ranched briefly at Pine Lake, southeast of Red Deer, then in 1906 moved to Edmonton where he became a chartered accoutant. He cultivated a keen interest in natural history, especially in Lepidoptera. His first ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ collections were in 1904 and 1905 at Blackfalds. From 1907-1909 he collected, mainly in Edmonton, but from then on he managed to collect in a number of places each year. His accounting work often took him to the Jasper-Pocahontas, Nordegg and Hillcrest-Blairmore areas, from where he gathered many specimens. In 1919, he updated Wolley-Dod's list and published an "Annotated Checklist of the Macrolepidoptera of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥." Additions and corrrections were regularly made to this, from 1921 to 1944. Then in 1951, with help from E.H. Strickland, he brought out a further update in "An Annotated List of the Lepidoptera of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥." The latter contained over 1800 taxa, roughly twice the number in the former, with most additions being microlepidoptera. More of a collector and compiler than a taxonomist, Bowman seldom described anything new, with the exception of Colias eurytheme alberta. Bowman's extensive and meticulously prepared collection was deposited at the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥. (text from: Bird, C.D. et al. 1995. ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Butterflies. The Provincial Museum of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥. Edmonton. viii+349 pp.)