James John Joicey

James John Joicey FES (28 December 1870 – 10 March 1932) was an English amateur entomologist, who assembled an extensive collection of Lepidoptera in his private research museum, called the Hill Museum, in Witley, Surrey. His collection, 40 years in the making, was considered to have been the second largest in the world held privately and to have numbered over 1.5 million specimens. Joicey was a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Entomological Society, the Royal Horticultural Society, and the Linnean Society of London. Joicey employed specialist entomologists including George Talbot to curate his collection and financed numerous expeditions throughout the world to obtain previously unknown varieties. More than 190 scientific articles were produced during the active period of the Hill Museum. This body of research was described as "a contribution to the study of the exotic Lepidoptera of very great scientific value". Joicey's donations from his collection, made during his life and continuing after his death, contributed significantly to the Lepidoptera collection of the Natural History Museum in London. Joicey's obituary in The Entomologist described him as "undoubtedly the most lavish patron of Entomology, in so far as butterflies and moths are concerned, that this country has ever boasted".

Life

Background James John Joicey was born on 28 December 1870 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the only child of Major William James Joicey, a wealthy coal owner, and Mary Anne Joicey née Clark. He was educated at Aysgarth School, Yorkshire, and Hertford College, Oxford, and was an Associate Member of the Institute of Mining Engineers from 1891. He was also a member of the Junior Carlton Club. Joicey married Maud Muriel Fisher (later Baroness de Satgé) in London in 1896. He lived at The Hill in Witley, Surrey, from about 1912.

Collecting Joicey's boyhood interest in insects was encouraged by his parents, and at the age of sixteen he put together a small collection of British and foreign butterflies. As an adult, he rediscovered his boyhood collection and was inspired to start collecting in earnest, his active interest dating from 1906. He used his resources to "indulge a taste for collecting butterflies and moths which remained with him throughout his life". He travelled "in the East" as a young man. Although he employed experts to collect most of his specimens, he also collected "on his own account both here and abroad", in "Europe, India, China, Japan, Burma and America". In 1913, he built and financed a private research museum, the Hill Museum, at his home in Witley, employing a curator and seven assistants. In one twelve-month period he collected some 17,000 specimens from across the world and was spending up to £10,000 (approximately equivalent to £400,000 in 2025) a year on the collection. Joicey said,

How did I manage to spend £10,000 a year on this collection? Well, these did not come from my back garden. I have had to send collectors to the far ends of the earth. ... When my work is done – that is, when I die – I will present the collection to the nation.The work has been the ruling passion of my life, ... I don't think I am extravagant, as my researches and investigations will be of great value to the nation. Joicey became a fellow of the Zoological Society of London in 1890, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1903, a fellow of the Entomological Society in 1908 (council member 1920–1923), a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1912, a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1913, a life member of the Société entomologique de France in 1921, and a member of the London Natural History Society in 1928. Joicey was also an amateur orchidist, and exhibited at meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Finances Joicey could afford to build his collection of Lepidoptera through his family connection with the firm of "Messrs. James Joicey & Co., Ltd, coalowners, Newcastle", founded by his grandfather. Although described as having been "nominally on the Stock Exchange from 1896 to 1899", then, in 1901, as a "coal owner & ship owner", and, in 1913, as a director of the family coal mining firm, Joicey effectively had no occupation and throughout his life relied on allowances from his parents. His income proved insufficient for his "extravagance in living" and the interest rates charged by money-lenders. Joicey became bankrupt in 1909 with a deficiency of over £185,000 (approximately equivalent to £19,000,000 in 2025), and again in 1922 with a deficiency of over £430,000 (approximately equivalent to £21,100,000 in 2025) despite his mother having given him £300,000 (approximately equivalent to £12,700,000 in 2025) in the interim. The latter bankruptcy was discharged in October 1931.

Joicey's father, at one time a millionaire, had left over £700,000 (approximately equivalent to £69,100,000 in 2025) in his estate in 1912, but his will ensured that no money went directly to his son. The Witley house and estate were bought for Joicey after his first bankruptcy. When sued by creditors in 1919, the judge said, "He seems hardly to have grown up. He seems to have infantile tastes which his mother helps him gratify." When counsel stated that Joicey was "susceptible to the wiles of the money-lenders", the judge responded, "And to the wiles of the butterflies." During the 1922 bankruptcy hearing, Joicey said, "I think the money seems to have gone like snow in an oven."

Death Joicey's mother died in 1930, leaving an estate valued at over £300,000 (approximately equivalent to £17,000,000 in 2025). Towards the end of his life, Joicey became an invalid. He died of heart failure on 10 March 1932 at his home, The Hill, in Witley, Surrey, aged 61, and was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Sunningdale. Joicey's estate was valued at £1,151 (approximately equivalent to £69,500 in 2025), his collection and museum having been principally paid for and owned by his mother.

Collections

As an adult, Joicey began collecting Lepidoptera in 1906 and by 1908 was advertising as far away as Australia for:

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