Museum in Portsmouth set to open exhibit dedicated to renowned naturalist

Henry Guermoprez dedicated his life to wildlife in the English countryside. Credit: Portsmouth Natural History Museum / Portsmouth City Council

An exhibition dedicated to the life's work of a renowned Sussex-born naturalist is set to open in Portsmouth.

Henry Guermonprez, from Bognor Regis, combed the county for 40 years for specimens of the English countryside, and documented it in a weekly newspaper column.

He wrote the ‘Selborne Notes’ in The West Sussex Gazette from 1906 up until his death in 1924, but was researching nature long before.

Now, the Portsmouth's Natural History Museum will commemorate his legacy-defining works, much of which is still being used by biologists today, 100 years on from his death.

Recent projects funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Headley Trust have let the museum catalogue his work, rehousing it from its original 1970s home in Bognor Regis.

Henry Guermonprez's specimen of a crab Credit: Portsmouth Natural History Museum / Portsmouth City Council

The exhibition will showcase over 100,000 snippets of what he collected in his lifetime and is the biggest of its kind.

This includes insects, plants, molluscs, marine invertebrates, taxidermy, birds' nests and fossils.

Celebrating the opening, Portsmouth City Council Leader Cllr Steve Pitt said: "This exhibition includes some of the most fascinating pieces of natural history from the early 1900s.

"Having the items on display in our gallery will allow more people to see them and inspire a deeper love of nature and that his work is still being used today shows just how important his legacy is."

The exhibit will be open from December 14 2024, and will close on December 31, 2025.

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