Charles Reed Laws

{{Short description|New Zealand entomologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox scientist | name = Charles Reed Laws | image = Charles Reed Laws.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 21 January 1894 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age |df=yes|1985|2|25|1894|1|21}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | fields = Geology, malacology | workplaces = | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = }}

'''Charles Reed Laws''' (21 January 1894 – 25 February 1985) was a New Zealand geologist and malacologist, known for his work studying micromolluscs of New Zealand.

==Biography== [[File:Pronucula ngatutura (Laws, 1936) (AM MA70554-1).jpg|thumb|left|Holotype of ''Nucula ngatutura'' collected by Laws and Arthur Bartrum from the Waitotaran Faunule at Kaawa Creek, which Laws used to describe the species in 1936 as ''Pronucula ngatutura'']]

Laws was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 21 January 1894.<ref name="GSNZ">{{cite journal|date=1985 |journal=Geological Society of New Zealand Newsletter |first=J.A. |last=Grant-Mackie |issue=68 |pages=30–32 |title=Obituary - Charles Reed Laws}}</ref> His father was Methodist reverend Charles Henry Laws.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C69024 |title=Charles Reade Laws |work=Online Cenotaph |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=7 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="History"/> He was educated at Christchurch and Dunedin, and attended Christchurch Boys' High School.<ref name="GSNZ"/> After two years at high school, Laws left in order to become a teacher himself.<ref name="GSNZ"/> During World War I, Laws became a sergeant of the 12th Reinforcements in Egypt and France.<ref name="GSNZ"/> He later studied at Auckland Training College and Auckland University College, beginning to teach at primary schools in 1921.<ref name="GSNZ"/> He completed his Bachelor of Science at Auckland University College in 1922, and in 1925, he became the second person to complete a thesis on geology at Auckland University College, winning the Julius von Haast Prize, awarded by the University of London.<ref name="AMBlog">{{cite web|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/stories/blog/2023/finlay-and-laws-collections |title=A tale of two collectors: the Finlay and Laws Collections |first=Thomas |last=Stolberger |year=2023 |website=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=7 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="GSNZ"/><ref>{{cite news|via=Papers Past|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19250227.2.19 |title=Degree Examinations |newspaper=New Zealand Times |volume=LII |issue=12074 |date=27 February 1925 |page=4}}</ref>

From 1929 to 1931, Laws became a lecturer in geography at Dunedin Teachers' Training College, which he followed by being the Lecturer in Geography and Natural Science at Auckland Training College from 1932 to 1946.<ref name="GSNZ"/> In 1946, he left to become the senior lecturer in geology at Auckland University College.<ref name="GSNZ"/> Laws became acting head of geology in 1949 after the death of Arthur Bartrum.<ref name="History">{{cite book|url=http://www.thebookshelf.auckland.ac.nz/docs/History-of-Geology/HistoryOfGeologyAA.pdf |title=University History of Geology 1883-1983 |first=R. N. |last=Brothers |date=November 1983 |publisher=Maxwell Printing Co. Ltd |location=Kingsland, Auckland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129161027/http://www.thebookshelf.auckland.ac.nz/docs/History-of-Geology/HistoryOfGeologyAA.pdf |archive-date=29 January 2019}}</ref>

Laws was encouraged to study malacology by paleontologists Harold Finlay and John Marwick.<ref name="Poi">{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/poirieria1730auck_0/page/n373/mode/2up |title=Charles Reed Laws |first=Nancy|last=Smith|pages=31–32 |journal=Poirieria |volume=21 |date=October 1997}}</ref> During the 1930s and 1940s, Laws became an authority on the gastropod family Pyramidellidae, publishing 122 new descriptions for species within this family.<ref name="AMBlog"/> Laws was also involved in major fossil finding expeditions at Kaawa Creek and Pakaurangi Point.<ref name="AMBlog"/> In recognition of his work, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1950.<ref name="Poi"/>

Laws retired in 1959, after which he dedicated his life to spending time with family and his hobbies, including rose gardening.<ref name="AMBlog"/><ref name="GSNZ"/>

==Personal life==

In 1921 Laws married Evelyn Katie Lee. Together they had twin daughters in 1925 and a son in 1933.<ref name="Poi"/> Laws' daughter Jocelyn was friends with his student Hope Sanderson (the first woman to graduate with a MSc with Honours in Geology in New Zealand), who she accompanied on a trip to England.<ref name=":2">{{CiteQ|Q104983165}}</ref>

==Bibliography== *{{Cite Q|Q89182259}} *{{Cite Q|Q89182325}} *{{cite Q|Q89182327}} *{{cite Q|Q89182329}} *{{cite Q|Q89182376}} *{{cite Q|Q89182383}} *{{cite Q|Q89182421}} *{{cite q|Q89182430}} *{{cite q|Q89182446}} *{{cite q|Q89182456}} *{{cite q|Q89182484}} *{{cite q|Q89182524}} *{{cite q|Q89182544}} *{{cite q|Q89182576}} *{{cite q|Q89182583}} *{{cite q|Q89182595}} *{{cite q|Q89182616}} *{{cite q|Q89182631}} *{{cite q|Q89182755}} *{{cite q|Q89182942}} *{{cite q|Q89182969}} *{{cite q|Q89182970}} *{{Cite Q|Q43376979}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laws, Charles Reed}} Category:1894 births Category:1985 deaths Category:20th-century New Zealand geologists Category:New Zealand malacologists Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War I Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Category:Academic staff of the Dunedin College of Education