Entomological field work in British Guiana

Major RWG Hingston, 1929

Taken in 1929, these photos depict field work undertaken in the Amazon rainforest as part of the Oxford University Expedition to British Guiana (now Guyana), led by Major Richard William George Hingston, an Irish physician, explorer and naturalist. Hingston had previously served as chief medical officer on the Mount Everest Expedition of 1924, during which he collected 10,000 animal samples (largely insects), and 500 plant specimens, most of which are now held by the Natural History Museum.

The goal of the 1929 expedition was to examine life in the rainforest canopy, a largely unexplored zone of the forest that the team of botanists, zoologists and entomologists was sure would be teeming with life. A report from the expedition suggests that they weren’t disappointed: ‘Here nature has run riot in its leafy fastness.’ The scientists used climbing equipment to get into the canopy and hauled up insect traps to sample the invertebrate life. Further reports suggest that the young team lived well while in the jungle. An abstract of Hington’s book, A Naturalist in the Guiana Forest, published in the journal Nature reads: ‘Most of the party were young and with no previous experience of the tropics; and it says much both for the fine discipline of modern youth and for the wisdom of their leader that they lived successfully under canvas for months, thus disposing once again of the old idea of the dangers of camping in the jungle. In fact, such was the excellent organisation that we are told: “We always, if we wished it, could have a hot bath daily, and we always had our meals off a clean tablecloth”.’

In 1939, Hingston was recalled to military duty in India and remained there until 1946. He spent the rest of his life at home in County Cork. Guyana was granted independence on 26 May 1966 and declared a republic within the Commonwealth on 23 February 1970.