Robin John Tillyard, 1881 - 1937

Abstract

The death of Robin John Tillyard, in his fifty-sixth year, took place in Australia on 13 January, 1937. It occurred as the result of a motor accident on the previous day which took place near Goulburn, on the road between Canberra and Sydney. Since Tillyard was one of the best known entomologists of the present day his tragic ending came as a shock to m any personal friends in various parts of the world. It appears that the car, in which he was being driven, skidded on a bad patch of road surface which had become greasy owing to a thunderstorm . T he vehicle overturned and he was throw n through the windscreen, sustaining a broken neck. H e was taken to the Goulburn Hospital where he survived without pain for fourteen hours after the accident. Born on 31 January, 1881, he was the son of J. J. Tillyard of Norwich. His early education was at Dover College and from there he gained scholarships both at Oxford and Cambridge. The choice fell on the last-named university and he entered Queens’ College with a scholarship in mathematics.