Francis Gwinnett Constans ("Frank")Tooke, forest entomologist, was the son of William Hammond Tooke and his wife Alice Augusta Marais. He was educated at Kingswood College, a private Methodist co-educational school in Grahamstown (now Makhanda) and continued his studies at Rhodes University College in the same town. In 1922 he was awarded a government overseas scholarship and went to the United States to specialize in entomology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State. He was awarded the MSc degree in entomology and returned to South Africa in 1925. Back home he proved himself to be a most enterprising and ingenious entomologist. He became a specialist in forest entomology and a pioneer in the use of aeroplane spraying and dusting of forest plantations for insect control. As early as 1926 he used De Havilland 9 aircraft for spraying bluegum plantations with calcium arsenate to control the snout-beetle. However, it was found that aerial insecticide spraying was not an economical technique to control this pest. He was then sent to Australia, the original home of the bluegum trees, to study this pest and its natural enemies. He brought one of these, a minute egg parasite, back to South Africa, where it was successfully reared and spread in the bluegum plantations during the next few years to combat the snout-beetle. This project saved the country's bluegum trees. It was carried out from 1925 to 1950 and provides an outstanding example of the success of biological control. In 1952, shortly before his death, Tooke was awarded the DSc degree by the University of South Africa for a comprehensive thesis on the parasite, The eucalyptus snout-beetle, Gonipterus scutellatus Gyll. His thesis was published as an Entomology Memoir by the Department of Agriculture in 1955.

Another problem insect that he tackled successfully from 1935 was the pine-tree emperor moth, which had become a serious pest in South African pine plantations. He suggested that it could be biologically controlled by letting pigs loose in the forest to eat the pupae that lie buried in the soil at the base of the trees and this turned out to be a complete success and attracted world-wide interest. This work was reported in The pine tree Emperor moth (with C. S. Hubbard) in 1941. Tooke was also responsible for the control of the pine thrips (Gnophothrips sp.), a tiny, sap-feeding insect that killed many trees in young pine plantations. He achieved this by thinning the trees and other silvicultural methods. During World War II (1939-1945) he concentrated on the control of wood boring beetles, which attacked timber imported from Central Africa for the South African Railways, by developing the technique of wood preservation, particularly with a pentachlorophenol solution that came to be widely used as a wood preservative. This work was reported by P. M. D. Krogh and Tooke in "The toxicity and penetrative capacity of certain pentachlorophenol wood preservative solutions" in the Journal of the South African Forestry Association (1944). The preservative was used to combat powder-post beetles (Lyctus) and the European house-borer (Hylotrupes), the latter an imported pest of seasoned pine that caused much damage in the Cape Peninsula and the Port Elizabeth area. He not only made a study of this beetle, but also drafted the regulations requiring the treatment of all timber in these areas before it was used in buildings. This work was written up in, among others, Beetles injurious to timber in South Africa: A study of their biology, prevention and control (Department of Agriculture, Science Bulletin No. 293, 1946). He also conducted an extensive survey of all the wood-boring beetles in the indigenous forests of South Africa.

Tooke lectured on forest insects at Stellenbosch University and at the Forestry Colleges. In 1945 he was promoted to senior professional officer in the Department of Forestry. During 1933-1936 he regularly attended meetings of the Pretoria Entomological Club. In 1937 he became a foundation member of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, served as its first secretary for 1937-1938 and was elected its president in 1946. His presidential address dealt with "Economic entomology, its present and future needs in South Africa" (Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1948). From 1947 to 1950 he was the editor of the society's Journal and during 1951-1952 served as joint vice-president of the society and chairman of its executive committee. He was an active member also of the South African Biological Society and presented several papers on forest entomology to its members.

On 7 April 1932 in Pretoria Tooke married Rue Rosamund Thompson, with whom he had three children.

List of sources:

Bedford, E. C. G. The early history of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1937-1960. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1961, Vol. 24, pp. 3-16.

British 1820 settlers to South Africa. Transcribed marriage entries for TOOKE. Retrieved on 24 March 2022 from https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/settlerbrowsemarrs.php?name=TOOKE&first=T

Dictionary of South African biography, Vol. 4, 1981.

FamilySearch: Francis Gwinnett Constans Tooke. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/GQVQ-4SY/francis-gwinnett-constans-tooke-1902-1953

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by F. G. C. Tooke.

Mansell, M. W. The Entomological Society of Southern Africa - A historical review. African Entomology, 1993, Vol. 1(1), pp. 109-120.

In Memoriam: Frank G. C. Tooke. South African Biological Society Pamphlets, 1955, No. 17, pp. 67-68.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Francis Tooke / FGC Tooke.

Obituary: Dr Frank G. C. Tooke. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1953, Vol. 16, pp. 232-233.

Smit, B. A further chapter in the history of entomology in South Africa. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1960, Vol. 23, pp. 3-15.

Smit, B. Fifty glorious years of co-operation in scientific research in South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 1960, Vol. 56(9), pp. 203-214.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-01-20 10:08:56