Theresa Clay
| Theresa Clay | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 7, 1911 |
| Died | March 17, 1995 (aged 84) Dorset, England |
| Other names | Theresa Clay Searight |
| Residence | Kensington Gardens, London |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Entomology |
| Institutions | British Museum (Natural History) |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Known for | Research on Mallophaga, probable collaboration in Richard Meinertzhagen's frauds |
| Influences | Richard Meinertzhagen, George Henry Evans Hopkins |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Clay |
| Spouse | Rodney G. Searight |
Theresa Rachel "Tess" Clay (7 February 1911 – 17 March 1995) was an English entomologist. She was introduced to zoology by her older relative, the ornithologist and adventurer Richard Meinertzhagen, with whom she had a very close and unusual relationship. She became the world's expert on Mallophaga, or chewing lice; however, her work is cast into question by her probable role in Meinertzhagen's many scientific frauds.
Clay was born on 7 February 1911, to Sir George Felix Neville Clay, 5th Baronet, one of the Clay Baronets, and Rachel Hobhouse Clay. Clay had four siblings, older sisters Margaret and Janet, older brother Henry, and younger brother Anthony. Clay's family lived at No. 18 Kensington Park Gardens, Notting Hill, London, and she attended at St Paul's Girls' School.
When Clay was eleven years old, her first cousin once-removed, or "uncle", Richard Meinertzhagen, came to live in the house beside her family's, No. 17 Kensington Gardens. Meinertzhagen was a prominent ornithologist and a distinguished soldier for genuine reasons, but he was also a "colossal fraud", who stole bird specimens and described spurious species from them, and invented and embellished military exploits. He kept typed loose-leaf diaries, a system which allowed him to rewrite his diaries and pass off his retrospective diary entries as authentic. Later he was to write in his diaries, contradictorily, that he didn't notice Clay and her sisters until they were older; that he felt a mystical bond with her when he first saw her; and that he dreamt of her when she was born.
What is certain is that Meinertzhagen and Clay were close by the time she was fifteen. Meinertzhagen started to have a cold relationship with his wife Annie, spending time with Clay and her sisters instead. The probably genuine parts of his diaries are filled with gushing praise for Clay, and include photographs, some nude, of the Clay sisters. On 6 July 1928, Meinertzhagen's wife Annie died in questional circumstances, from what was ruled to be an accidental gunshot wound. After Annie's death, Theresa and Janet cared for Meinertzhagen and his children. Theresa was baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields church not long after Annie's death, with Meinertzhagen as her sponsor.
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