This chapter explores Dresser’s family background, establishing the family’s wealth and prominent social position. Dresser was sent to be schooled, alone, to Germany and Sweden, as his father had business interests in Baltic timber. Dresser learnt all of the main European languages at this time. Following this, he spent several years in Finland and New Brunswick in the timber business. It was in Finland that he made his first significant ornithological discovery, finding the nest of the Waxwing, being the first English collector to do so. The chapter introduces Dresser’s collecting of birds and eggs, and how he mixed ornithology with business when in the timber and mercantile business. It introduces his early life in London-based natural history society and his meeting with Alfred Newton, the leading ornithologist in Britain, who served as his mentor throughout much of Dresser’s life. The chapter is largely based on Dresser’s unpublished diaries.
The constitution and bye-laws of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick
