W. Lens Aldous

William Lens Aldous (baptized 29 September 1792 – 19 November 1878)[1] was a British illustrator who reproduced findings of the early workers in microscopy, and an early member of the Royal Microscopical Society.

"Head of the Flea"

Aldous was the son of Jonathan and Mary Aldous and was baptized at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch.[2] He lived in the south of London. He worked with J. B. Reade, a pioneer of experimental photography.[3]

His coloured lithograph, 'Head of a Flea', was presented to the Entomological Society of London on 7 May 1838, who adopted it for a poster. Reade's letters to his contemporaries describe how Aldous began his illustrations of microscopy with this illustration, after a drawing, “highly magnified figure of the head of a flea” (1837), derived from his experiments in microscopic photography.[3] Other works included a portrait of the microscopist and histologist John Thomas Quekett.[4]

Aldous died in St Leonards-on-Sea[5][6][7] and was buried in Hastings Cemetery.[8]

References
  1. Bainbridge, David (2018). Stripped Bare: The Art of Animal Anatomy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 193.
  2. London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812 – William Lens Aldous.
  3. R. Derek Wood. Annals of Science, March 1971, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 13-45 Transcript at midley.co.uk
  4. Boulger, George Simonds (1896). "Quekett, John Thomas" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  5. "Deaths". The Morning Post. London. 23 November 1878. p. 7. Retrieved 20 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  6. "Deaths: William Lens Aldous". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 30 November 1878.
  7. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration, 1878 – ALDOUS – William Lens Aldous.
  8. National Burial Index for England & Wales – William Lens Aldous.
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