Sir Edward Poulton

Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton
Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton Photograph by James Lafayette
Born	(1856-01-27)27 January 1856
Died	20 November 1943(1943-11-20) (aged 87)
Nationality	English
Fields	Evolutionary biology
Institutions	University of Oxford
Alma mater	Jesus College, Oxford
Known for	Aposematism, frequency-dependent selection, camouflage
Influences	Charles Darwin, August Weismann, Alfred Russel Wallace
Notable awards	Linnean Medal (1922) Hope Professor of Zoology

Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS (27 January 1856 – 20 November 1943) was a British evolutionary biologist who was a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its importance. He invented the term sympatric for evolution of species in the same place, and in his book The Colours of Animals (1890) was the first to recognize frequency-dependent selection.

Poulton is also remembered for his pioneering work on animal coloration. He is credited with inventing the term aposematism for warning coloration, as well as for his experiments on 'protective coloration' (camouflage).

Poulton became Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford in 1893.

Between 1873 and 1876, Poulton studied at Jesus College, Oxford under George Rolleston and the anti-Darwinian entomologist John Obadiah Westwood, graduating with a first-class degree in natural science. He maintained an unbroken connection with the college for seventy years as scholar, lecturer and Fellow (appointed to a fellowship in 1898) until his death. He was known as a generous benefactor to the college, providing silver for the high table and redecorating the Old Bursary amongst other donations.

Poulton lived with his family at 56 Banbury Road in North Oxford, a large Victorian Gothic house designed by John Gibbs and built in 1866. He married Emily Palmer, daughter of George Palmer, M.P. for Reading and head of Huntley and Palmer's biscuit company and they had five children. Three of them were dead by 1919. Their eldest son Dr. Edward Palmer Poulton of Guy's Hospital died in 1939, meaning that Sir Edward was outlived only by his daughter Margaret Lucy (1887-1965), wife of Dr Maxwell Garnett. Poulton's son, Ronald Poulton-Palmer played international rugby for England and was killed in May 1915 World War I. His first daughter Hilda married Dr Ernest Ainsley-Walker and died in 1917. His youngest daughter, Janet Palmer, married Charles Symonds in 1915 and died in 1919.