Maude Delap
Irish marine biologist (1866-1953)
Maude Jane Delap (7 December 1866 – 23 July 1953) was a self-taught Irish naturalist and marine biologist active on Valentia Island. Delap is known for being the first person to breed jellyfish in captivity and was one of the first to identity their life cycle. In collaboration with her sister Constance, Delap was involved in the extensive study of plankton from the coasts of Valentia Island.
Early life and education
Delap was born on 7 December 1866 at Templecrone Rectory, Dungloe to The Rev Alexander Delap and Anna Jane Delap (née Goslett). The seventh of ten siblings, Delap was the elder sister of the marine biologist Constance Delap. In 1874, when Maude was aged 8, the family moved to Valentia Island when her father became the rector of the island and Cahirciveen. Maude and her sisters received very little formal education in contrast to their brothers, though they benefited from some progressive primary school teaching. Maude and her sister Constance were encouraged in their interest in zoology and biology from their father, who himself published notes in The Irish Naturalist and elsewhere.
Collecting and research
Maude, and her sister Constance, were prolific collectors of marine specimens many of which are now housed within the collections of the Natural History Museum, Dublin. Based on their work a survey was undertaken by the Royal Irish Academy headed by Edward T. Browne of University College London in 1895 and 1896, a precursor to the Clare Island Survey.
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This entry incorporates text from “Maude Delap” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.