William Bernhardt Tegetmeier

William Bernhardt Tegetmeier (1816–19 November 1912) was an English naturalist (with an interest in pigeons, fowl, and bees), a founder of the Savage Club, and a writer and journalist of domestic science.

Born in Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire, he was educated by his father and at University College London. Tegetmeier was already a published authority on poultry when he first met Charles Darwin: they became correspondents, and Tegetmeier eventually became a Darwinist. Whilst living in Fortis Green, near Muswell Hill, in the 1850s Tegetmeier became interested in bee keeping, and discovered how bees created the hexagon-shaped cells in their hives. He died in Hampstead and his remains rest in East Finchley Cemetery.

Works

• The Poultry Book (1866)

References

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: J. A. Secord, ‘Tegetmeier, William Bernhardt (1816–1912)’, first published Sept 2004, 800 words, with portrait illustration [1]