Edward Meyrick, until his marriage earlier that year a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and his wife Mary Batson of Ramsbury.

[6] He actively pursued his hobby during his schooling, and one colleague stated in 1872 that Meyrick "has not left a lamp, a paling, or a tree unexamined in which a moth could possibly, at any stage of its existence, lie hid.

"[8] Meyrick began publishing notes on microlepidopterans in 1875, but when in December, 1877 he gained a post at The King's School, Parramatta, New South Wales, there were greater opportunities for indulging his interest.

He stayed in Australia from 1877 until the end of 1886[9] working at Sydney Grammar School before returning to England to teach classics at Marlborough College and become a corresponding member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

[8] Meyrick was a life-long member of the Conservative party, and spent twelve years as president of the East Wilts Unionist Association.