Ian Robert Penicuick HESLOP (1904 – 1970) was born in Bengal, 14/06/1904 to Septimus Heslop and Elizabeth Penicuick Dick. His father,  originally from Durham, was a consulting mining engineer working for the New Beerbohm Coal Company.

Ian grew up in Bristol where he studied at Clifton College and  later at Cambridge where he earned a degree in classics about 1926. He  joined the Colonial Service in Nigeria in 1929, eventually progressing to become a District Commissioner.

Whilst in Nigeria he met Eileen Agnes Huxford and they married there in 1943. They decided to return to the UK in order to raise a family and they came to Burnham about 1945.

Ian’s own father was a keen naturalist and lepidopterist who introduced him into developing an interest in butterflies at the age of seven whilst Ian was suffering from mumps. This became a life long obsession, so much so that he became a renowned expert in British butterflies and especially the Purple Emperor (Apatura iris).

Not only was he an experienced lepidopterist, conservationist and naturalist he was an excellent shot with handgun and rifle. There were contests between Oxford and Cambridge Universities which he helped to win between 1923 and 1926. There are two trophies provided by him, one of which is still contested.

He is thought to have taught Latin at St Dunstans School and other schools in the south west. He lived in Belfield, Poplar Road, Burnham.

He retired in 1969 and  died 02/06/1970 age 65.

Full his full biography see Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Heslop