| AdminHistory | Oldfield Thomas grew up in South Africa, returning to England for schooling at Haileybury. He secured a clerkship in the Secretaries office at the British Museum in 1876, and transferred to the Zoology Department as an Assistant in 1878. After a short period working with the invertebrates, he was given charge of the mammal collection. In 1895 his post became part of the Vertebrate Section of the Department, under R Bowdler Sharpe, and in 1922 the Mammal Section was set up. Thomas continued to work regularly at the Museum until shortly before his death in 1929. |