Theresa Rachel "Tess" Clay was an English entomologist.
20 Facts About Theresa Clay
1.
2.
Theresa Clay was introduced to zoology by her older relative, the ornithologist and adventurer Richard Meinertzhagen, with whom she had an unusually close relationship.
3.
Theresa Clay became the world's expert on Mallophaga, or chewing lice; however, her work is cast into question by her suspected role in Meinertzhagen's many scientific frauds.
4.
Theresa Clay had four siblings, older sisters Margaret and Janet, older brother Henry, and younger brother Anthony.
5.
Theresa Clay's family lived at No 18 Kensington Park Gardens, Notting Hill, London, and she attended at St Paul's Girls' School.
6.
Theresa Clay kept typed loose-leaf diaries, a system which allowed him to rewrite his diaries and pass off his retrospective diary entries as authentic.
7.
The probably genuine parts of his diaries are filled with gushing praise for Theresa Clay, and include photographs, some nude, of the Theresa Clay sisters.
8.
Theresa Clay was baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields church not long after Annie's death, with Meinertzhagen as her sponsor.
9.
From around 1930, Meinertzhagen and Theresa Clay were rarely separate, living, working and travelling together.
10.
Theresa Clay continued to live in No 18 Kensington Park Gardens, but it was connected to No 17 by an underground passage.
11.
Theresa Clay's mother disapproved of her relationship with Meinertzhagen, but the "general social acceptance" of Meinertzhagen's eccentricities prevailed, and Theresa Clay's mother simply avoided speaking with Meinertzhagen, speaking through others even in his presence.
12.
Theresa Clay was an ornithologist, and after having her assist him in his work with birds, he decided she should pursue the study of bird parasites.
13.
Theresa Clay already had amassed a large collection of bird parasites, and eventually had her catalogue it.
14.
Theresa Clay started volunteering at the British Museum in 1938.
15.
Theresa Clay became a Senior Scientific Staff Member in 1952, and a Deputy Keeper in 1970.
16.
Early in World War II, Theresa Clay was recruited into MI5 to assist Victor Rothschild, Miriam's brother.
17.
Theresa Clay was running a counter-sabotage section, trying to protect scientific and industrial targets from German attack and espionage.
18.
Theresa Clay stayed on after the war, and left in 1948.
19.
Theresa Clay continued to live at Kensington Park Gardens until after her husband's death in 1991.
20.
Theresa Clay died on 17 March 1995, at a nursing home in Dorset.