Hugh Whistler

Hugh Whistler (28 September 1889 – 7 July 1943), F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. was an English police officer and ornithologist who worked in India. He wrote one of the first field guides to Indian birds and documented the distributions of birds in notes in several journals apart from describing new subspecies.

Hugh was the first son of Major Fuller Whistler of the Highland Light Infantry and Gwenllian Annie (née Robinson) and was born at Mablethorpe in 1889. Whistler was educated at Aldenham School. His younger brother Ralfe Allen Fuller Whistler (24 July 1895 - 28 April 1917) followed after his father and joined the Highland Light Infantry while Hugh went to serve with the Indian police mainly in the Punjab.

He served in India from December 1909 to April 1926. He was initially posted at Phillaur but was later to serve across Punjab including districts such as Jhang that were considered unpopular. He was posted in other regions including Kangra, Lahul and Spiti. He began to correspond with Claud Buchanan Ticehurst and, when on leave in England in 1910, he visited Grove House at Lowestoft and was introduced to scientific ornithology. Wherever he was posted, he took an interest in the local birdlife, keeping careful notes and making collections. In 1924 he returned to England and made a trip to Spain with Ticehurst.

On 2 October 1925 Whistler married Margaret Joan Ashton daughter of Thomas Gair Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde and Eva Margaret James who were from near his own home in Battle. He died on 7 July 1943 leaving behind a daughter Benedicta (now deceased) and son Ralfe.

Whistler studied and collected birds wherever he was posted in India. On retiring to England he continued his research into Indian ornithology. He published extensively in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, making notes on the occurrence and on the distributions of geographic plumage variations. He published a ten-part introduction to the study of birds in India. He made collecting trips to Spain, Albania, Italy and Algeria often in the company of Claud Buchanan Ticehurst.

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