Frederick DuCane Godman D.C.L., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., M.R.I., F.R.H.S., M.B.O.U. (15 January 1834 – 19 February 1919) was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist.
Godman is best known for co-authoring Biologia Centrali-Americana (1879-1915) with Osbert Salvin. This is a 63 volume encyclopedia on the natural history of Central America. His other works included The Natural History of the Azores (1870) and a Monograph of the Petrels (1907-10).
Godman was the third son of Joseph Godman, of Park Hatch, Surrey and was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] At Cambridge he became acquainted with Alfred Newton and Salvin. The custom of these ornithological friends to meet and talk over their recent acquisitions led to the foundation of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) in November 1857. Godman was Secretary of the BOU from 1870 to 1882 and from 1889 and 1897, and President from 1896. A partner in Whitbread & Co., Godman inherited an ample fortune which allowed him to travel the world.
In 1883, Godman went on to become the developer of South Lodge, a neo-Jacobean style country house estate in Sussex.[2]