Francis (Frank) Treleaven, a bookkeeper who collected insects and other land invertebrates for the South African Museum, Cape Town, during the eighteen-nineties, was the son of Francis Treleaven and his wife Eliza Dodd Bennett. In 1896 he and an employee of the museum, R.M. Lightfoot*, collected a scorpion at Tulbaghweg Station, near the town of Tulbagh. Two years later Treleaven consulted the museum's insect collection and donated various arachnids from the Cape Peninsula, as well as a frog. During 1899 he assisted the museum's entomologist, Dr L.A. Péringuey*, in collecting some local beetles. He also presented the museum with a collection of land invertebrates, including spiders and insects, made at Kanye, Botswana (some 40 km north-east of Lobatse). A number of species were new to the museum's collections, including a "rare Hymenopterous insect" that had apparently not yet been described.

Treleaven became a member of the South African Philosophical Society in 1896. In 1891 he resided at 24 Dunkley Street, Cape Town; in 1898 in Plein Street; and in 1902 at 5 St John's Terrace, Hatfield Street. At the time of his death in 1902 he had been certified insane. He was married to Annie Hancocks and they were the parents of Miss C. A. S. Treleaven*, but Francis also had two daughters with Elizabeta Nyren.

List of sources:

Biodiversity explorers, at http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/people as on 19 February 2021.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the trustees of the South African Museum, 1898, 1899.

FamilySearch: Francis Treleaven. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LWCW-CS7/francis-treleaven-1855-1902

FamilySearch: Elizabeta Nyren. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/9J5S-DSS/elizabeta-nyren-1887

General directory of South Africa, 1891, 1903.

Longland's Cape Town and Peninsula directory, 1903. Cape Town: Argus, 1903.

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

South African Philosophical Society. Transactions, 1897-1898, Vol. 9-10, lists of members.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-01-22 09:58:26