Alfred Edwin Eaton (1844 - 1929) was an English clergyman and entomologist. He served as the vicar of Shepton Montague in Somerset. His main interests among insects were the Diptera and Ephemeroptera.
Biography
Family and Ecclesiastical Life
Eaton's parents were Clergyman Richard Storks Eaton (c.1803-1865) and Sophia Abraham (c.1806-1875), who were married at Teignmouth on 17 April 1833. Richard was the Rector of Little Bredy, Dorset and Curate of Compton Abbas. Before Alfred was born, Richard and Sophia had four other children: Henry (1834-1909), Frances (1836-1871), Robert (1839-1901), and Frederic (1841-1916). Alfred Edwin Eaton was born on 1 December 1844 at Little Bredy and baptised on 19 January 1845.
The early education of the Eaton children was from a governess, Harriet Dive, who lived with the family. Young Alfred later attended Reverend James Penny's Grammar School in Blandford, Dorset, before he began studies at Trinity College Cambridge. Eaton graduated with a First Class Tripos in Natural Sciences in 1867, and gained a Masters Degree in 1871.
Eaton and his older brother Walter both became clergymen like their father with Alfred being ordained as a Deacon by the Bishop of Lichfield in 1869 and ordained as a Priest in 1870. Eaton's brother Henry became a Meteorologist and was later President of the British Meteorological Society and Eaton's brother Robert trained as a Civil Engineer. Rev. Walter Eaton, assisted by Alfred, officiated at the wedding of their sister Frances in 1870 to Edward Pinney, who was also from a clergy family. Frances died in 1871, shortly after the birth of her first child.
Eaton’s ecclesiastical appointments were interspersed with his scientific travels: he was the Curate of Ashbourne from 1869-1871, then became Curate of Battlesden from c.1873-1874. Eaton also briefly served as a Curate in Paddington, London, before setting off as Naturalist on the Svalbard Expedition.
Eaton resumed work as a Curate again in 1882, at Thorncombe, filling in for the usual Vicar Charles A. Bragge who had departed on a continental tour to recover from illness in 1881. Eaton was resident in the village during a disastrous fire on 19 May 1882 which destroyed about 20 houses, although no one was killed. The fire had begun at a bakery and quickly spread through the thatched roofs of nearby properties. Eaton opened up the village church and vicarage to assist those who had been made homeless, and was involved in the fundraising efforts to rebuild, writing an appeal letter which was printed in The Western Gazette in which he noted that 70 people, mainly the village's poorest residents, had lost their homes. The fundraising was so successful that the Thorncombe fire relief fund could close its accounts by 29 May.
Eaton later worked as Curate at Shepton Montague from 1887-1892.
On 8 May 1884 Eaton married Mary Ellen Warry (1857-1941) of West Coker, Somerset. They had two children: Ethel Frances (1885-1958) and Alfred Henry (1887-1970).
In his later years Eaton was a resident of Northam, Devon, where he died at the age of 84 on 23 March 1929.
Scientific career
Eaton's interest in natural history was well established by his teenage years. While he was a student at Cambridge, Eaton contributed to journals like The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, and he is recorded as presenting his research at meetings of the Entomological Society in London (many years later, Eaton would become the Royal Entomological Society's Senior Fellow). Eaton's greatest scientific interest was in insects, but he was also a notable botanical collector. Eaton collected specimens widely on a professional basis and to send to friends and colleagues.
The Entomologist Robert McLachlan (1837-1904) was a friend of Eaton - Eaton's brother Henry was McLachlan's longstanding companion on scientific travels. McLachlan's interest in freshwater insects - in his case, Trichoptera - meant that he and Eaton collaborated often. McLachlan regularly sent his Ephemeroptera specimens to Eaton to describe, and in return Eaton gave most of his own Ephemeroptera specimens to McLachlan, whose collection was acquired by British Museum in 1938. Eaton's own collection of 200 microscope slides and c.1800 pinned insects, mostly Psychodidae, were donated to the British Museum by his widow Mary after his death.