Background
South was born in Marylebone, London, England and educated at a private school, in Reading.
South was born in Marylebone, London, England and educated at a private school, in Reading.
He is best known for writing three important books on butterflies and moths of the British Isles. After his death, these were updated by H. M. Edelsten. Michael Salmon has described these as "innovative" and "a new kind of guide for the century", noting their early use of colour photographs and eschewing of "Victorian polixity and classical preciousness".
The moth volumes were reprinted as late as 1980.
South was editor of The Entomologist. He also published many papers on the Lepidoptera of the Far East, including China and of Korea, and an account of the butterflies collected by Captain Field-Marshal Bailey in western China, Tibet and South-Eastern and the Mishmi Hills.
Major parts of his collections of specimens survive, in the Natural History Museum and in the collection of Birmingham Museums Trust.