Process of Lamp based on Maude Delap
Maude Delap was born on 7th December 1866, in Templecrone Rectory, County Donegal to Reverend Alexander Delap and his wife, Anna Jane. She was the 7th child out of 10 children. When Maude was 8 in 1874, she and her family moved to Valentia Island when her father appointed the Rector of the island. Valentia Island is located in Kerry. The family home was at Reenellen House in Knightstown and overlooked the sea where the children, especially Maude, spent their childhood playing on the beach.
Maude and her sisters had no proper education like their brothers due to the sexist rules of Victorian society and their old-fashioned father. However, this allows Maude the freedom to explore the island where she learnt marine biology on her own and made one of the biggest scientific discoveries in history.
She often went out in a small rowing boat, fishing for jellyfish.
Valentia Island, despite being a small island in Ireland, was often used as a sight of observation and nature study.
Maude Delap is the first person to breed jellyfish in captivity observed their full life cycle. She bred compass jellyfish (Chrysaora hysoscella) and blue jellyfish (Cyanea lamarckii) in bell jars and published the results, observing their breeding and feeding habits. By doing so, she discovered the various life cycle stages of jellyfish, medusa and hydra.
She was also identified plankton and a rare True’s beaked whale that washed up on the shore of Valentia island.
She wrote a series of influential articles, all authored under her own name, which was unusual for a woman at the time.
Maude and her sister Constance collected marine specimens which are now housed in the National History Museum of Dublin. The Royal Irish Academy undertook a survey of the sisters’ work, led by Edward T. Browne from University College of London for two years. Maude and Browne became friends until his death in 1937. Afterwards, Maude and Constance Delap continued their work as well as recording sea temperature and changes in marine life.
Maude was made an associate of the Linnean Society of London in 1936. She discovered a sea anemone in 1928 that is only found in the shallow waters of Valentia
island. It was named Edwardsia delapiae in her honour. Thomas Alan Stephenson said in his book British sea anemones that, "Miss Delap's skill and persistence in collecting rare species are indefatigable."
Maude was born and raised in The Victorian Era. It was a time of great change but also of great sexism despite the era was solely named for Queen Victoria of England. Regardless of Maude’s great talent, she was dismissed by men in power. She was even forced to turn down a position at the Marine Biological Station at Plymouth in 1906 because of her domineering father. He stated ‘No daughter of mine will leave home, except as a married woman’. She never married and spent her entire life on the island working from her home.
She died on 23rd July 1953. She was buried alongside her family in the churchyard at Saint John’s Church, Kilmore, near Knightstown, County Kerry.
Maude is the pride and joy of Valentia Island. A plaque was erected to her in 1998 by the Irish National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology.
Concept Work
