Joan Beauchamp Procter
(1897-1931)

Joan Beauchamp Procter was born in London on 5th August 1897. She was the daughter of Joseph Procter and Elizabeth Brockbank. Joan's family was keenly interested in the arts and sciences, so she was encouraged to explore and investigate the natural world around her. At ten years old, Joan began collecting various species of lizards and snakes. Her favourite pet was a giant Dalmation lizard. At 16, Joan received a juvenile crocodile as a gift which she kept in the family's bathtub. 

 

Joan attended St. Paul's Girls School, Hammersmith. Joan was a commendable student, but chronic intestinal issues frequently disrupted her studies. During her school years, Joan contacted zoologist George Albert Boulenger FRS, the curator of the herpetofauna collections at the British Museum, to discuss specimens. G.A. Boulenger instantly saw Joan's potential to become a brilliant herpetologist. After finishing school, due to chronic illness, Joan could not follow her dream and commence a degree in zoology at Cambridge University.

 

 In 1917, Great Britain was cemented in the carnage of World War. Like all industries, the museum found itself short of employees. Scientific roles were traditionally male-dominated, but George invited Joan to assist him with the extensive collection of reptiles and fishes due to her keen interest and aptitude in the sciences. It was here that Joan began analysing and categorising the museum's specimens. At 19, Joan published her first publication on a pit viper for the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. In August of the same year, the ZSL elected Joan as a Fellow.  

 

 In 1920, George retired from his role at the museum. For a short time, Joan began paid employment to care for the museum's reptile collection. She discovered and described the Australian Peninsula dragon (Ctenophorus fionni) during her work. 

 

Due to her professional relationship with George, Joan became good friends with his son, Edward, the Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo. In 1923, the zoo promoted Edward as Director of the new aquarium, opening up a vacancy within the herpetology department. Joan was the perfect candidate, appointed as the new Curator of Reptiles and amphibians, the first woman to hold this position. Joan achieved further recognition on 21st June 1923, with the Linnean Society electing her as a Fellow.

 

Joan quickly got to work in her new role as curator. The reptile house was run down and full of disease and rodents. Joan proposed to the zoo's council to build a new reptile house. Not only was Joan a proficient herpetologist, but she also had an exceptional ability to draw and design architectural plans. Joan was very involved in designing and building the new reptile house to improve the husbandry standards and welfare of reptiles in captivity. She employed a new technology called Vitaglass, which allowed ultraviolet light to infiltrate through the enclosures, along with improved heating and lighting. The design also included a veterinary clinic where Joan often performed surgeries on the house inhabitants. The new reptile house opened in 1927 and is still in use today. Under these new and improved conditions, the captive reptiles flourished. 

 

Whilst working at the zoo, Joan fell in love with two Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) named Sumbawa and Sumba. The dragons were the first live specimens to reach Europe, with limited knowledge available regarding their biology and husbandry needs. Joan studied the lizards extensively, publishing a paper and presenting her observations at the Scientific Meeting of the ZSL on the 23rd of October, 1928. To the audience's surprise, Joan brought Sumbawa on stage during the presentation. Sumbawa became very accustomed to human contact and was often seen with Joan around the zoo grounds. 

 

By 1928, Joan's chronic illness had progressed. She temporarily transferred to Whipsnade Zoo to re-cooperate and to commence working on the plan for the new zoo. While living on the zoo's grounds, Joan would walk or use a wheelchair to walk around the grounds with Sumbawa on a leash. 

 

Joan succumbed to her illness tragically and passed away on 20th September 1931 at 34.

 

Joan's lasting legacy

 

"One of the most brilliant naturalists in Great Britain"

                                      -E.W. MacBride.

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Joan's career was unfortunately cut short, but in that time, she made an incredible impact on the study of reptiles and amphibians. However, Joan's story is still largely unknown.

 

Letters kept in the ZSL archives show that Joan was loved by all who knew her personally and professionally. She received international recognition for her research on the East African Tortoise, Testudo liveridgei, now known as Malacochersus tornieri. As such, she was awarded an honorary doctorate D.Sc from the University of Chicago. Her renowned reptile house at London Zoo is featured in the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone movie. After her death, George Alexander was commissioned to produce a bust of Joan on display in the reptile house. Whipsnade Zoo commemorated Joan with a road named 'Miss Joan's Ride', which runs through the zoo today. She also had two species of reptile named after her, Testudo procterae and Buhoma procterae. 

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Bibliography

Boulenger, E.G. (1931). Obituary. Nature, 3233(128): 664-665

 

library.zsl.org

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linnean.org/news/2019/03/08/8th-march-2019-joan-beauchamp-procter-fls

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Procter, J.B (1928). On a living Komodo dragon. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 1017-1019

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Valdes, P. (2018). Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The woman who loved reptiles. Andersen Press Ltd. London

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zsl.org

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