thumb|200px|edward hamilton atiken (1851-1909)|rightedward hamilton aitken (born 16 august 1851 in satara, india, died 11 april 1909 edinburghbell, t r d 1909. obituary. journal of the bombay natural history society 19:540-543) was a civil servant in india, better known for his humorist writings on natural history in india and as a founding member of the bombay natural history society. he was well known to anglo-indians by the pen-name of eha. ==early life== eha was born at satara in the bombay presidency on august 16, 1851. his father was the rev. james aitken, missionary of the free church of scotland. his mother was a sister of the rev. daniel edward, a missionary to the jews at breslau for some fifty years. he was educated by his father in india. his higher education was obtained at bombay and pune. he passed m.a. and b.a. of bombay university, first on the list, and won the homejee cursetjee prize with a poem in 1880. from 1870 to 1876, he taught latin at the deccan college in pune. he also knew greek and was known to be able to read the greek testament without the aid of a dictionary. he grew up in india, and it was only later in life that he visited england for the first time, and he found the weather of edinburgh severe. thumb|illustration from his concerning animals and other matters thumb|illustration from his concerning animals and other matters ==career== he entered the customs and salt department of the government of bombay in april 1876, and served in kharaghoda (referred to as dustypore in the tribes on my frontier), uran, uttara kannada and goa frontier, ratnagiri, and bombay itself. in may, 1903, he was appointed chief collector of customs and salt revenue at karachi, and in november, 1905, was made superintendent in charge of the district gazetteer of sind. he retired from the service in august 1906. he married isabella mary, the third daughter of the rev. j. chalmers blake of the free church of scotland on the 22nd of december 1883 in bombayaberdeen journal. 5 january 1884. p. 4. and they had two sons and three daughters. ==natural history== he explored the jungles on the hills near vihar around bombay and wrote a book called the naturalist on the prowl. his writing style was accurate and at the same time amusing to his readers. he studied most of his subjects in life and was very restricted in his collecting. in response to an appeal for information on rats due to plague in bombay, he wrote an article for the times of india (july 19, 1899), in which he threw a flood of light on the subject of the habits and characteristics of the indian rat as
1851_births 1909_deaths British_entomologists British_zoologists Naturalists_of_British_India University_of_Mumbai_alumni