Frederick Walter Champion

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Frederick Walter Champion (born 24 August 1893 in

British India and East Africa. In the UK and India he became famous in the 1920s as one of the first wildlife photographers and conservationists
.

Early life

Champion grew up in a family of nature lovers. His father was the English

entomologist George Charles Champion. His brother Sir Harry George Champion
was also a forester, well known for classifying the forest types of India.

Champion travelled to India in 1913 and served in the Police Department in East Bengal until 1916. He was commissioned into the

North West Frontier of India.[2] He retired a lieutenant but was granted the rank of captain on 1 May 1922.[3]

Commitment to conservation

After returning from the war, he joined the

sport hunting. He preferred shooting wildlife with a camera in the Sivalik Hills and pioneered camera trapping: in the 1920s he developed cameras triggered by tripwires. Using a flashlight as well, he obtained dozens of remarkable night-time photographs, which are among the first of wild tigers, leopards, sloth bears, dholes
and other wildlife. He recognized that with good photographs of tigers, it was possible to tell individuals apart by their different stripe patterns.

Champion was a passionate

Corbett National Park in 1957.[6]

When India became

Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti
until he retired.

Publications

  • With Camera in Tiger-land. Chatto & Windus, London 1927
  • The Jungle in Sunlight and Shadow Chatto & Windus, London 1934. Reprinted 1996 by Natraj Publishers, Dehra Dun, India.
  • "Preserving Wildlife in the United Provinces" No. 4, The United Provinces. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society Vol. 37 (1934), pp. 104–110. Reprinted in: Thapar, V. (2001) Saving wild tigers, 1900-2000: the essential writings. Permanent Black, Delhi. pp. 57–68 (book preview)
  • "From the Photographer's Point of View" In: Jepson, S. (ed.) (1936). Big game encounters: critical moments in the lives of well-known shikaris. H.F. & G. Witherby, London. pp. 30–36 (book preview)
  • Correspondence: "The Protection of Wildlife". Indian Forester Vol. 55 (1939): 501–504.

See also

Further reading

  • Champion, J. (2012). Tripwire for a Tiger. Rainfed Books, Madras.
    ISBN 9788192326900
    .
  • Guggisberg, C. A. W. (1977). Early Wildlife Photographers. David and Charles, London. pp. 45, 85–89, 228–229.
  • Army Headquarters India (2012). Indian Army List January 1919 - Volume 1. Andrews UK, Luton.
  • The National Archives, Kew: Medal card of Champion, Frederick Walter: Reference WO 372/4/782508
  • London Gazette

References

  1. ^ Indian Army List January 1919
  2. ^ Indian Army List January 1919
  3. ^ London Gazette 29 August 1922
  4. ^ Thapar, V. (2001). Saving Wild Tigers, 1900-2000: the essential writings. Permanent Black, Delhi. p. 59 (Book Preview)
  5. ISBN 0761934472
    ). pp. 210
  6. ISBN 8178241404
    ). p. 72
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