Editing David Lack (section)

==Education and early life==
Lack was born in London, the oldest of four children of Harry Lambert Lack [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]] [[Royal College of Surgeons of England|FRCS]], who later became President of the [[British Medical Association]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=n.p.|year=2007|title=Harry Lambert Lack, M.D., F.R.C.S|journal=The Journal of Laryngology & Otology|volume=58|issue=3|pages=135–136|doi=10.1017/S0022215100011038|doi-access=free}}</ref> The name 'Lack' is derived from 'Lock'. His father grew up in a farming family from Norfolk and became a leading ear, nose and throat surgeon at the [[Royal London Hospital|London Hospital]]. Although his father had some interest in birds as a boy it does not appear that he influenced David's interest. His mother Kathleen was the daughter of Lt. Col. McNeil Rind of the [[British Indian Army|Indian army]]. Kathleen's father was Scottish and on her mother's side was part Irish, Greek and Georgian.<ref name="thorpe" /> Kathleen had been an actor and was a supporter of women's suffrage. At home they organized meetings of the poetry society. David was schooled at home until seven and then went to the Open Air School in Regent's Park before going to The Hall, Hampstead followed by Foster's School, Stubbington and [[Gresham's School]], [[Holt, Norfolk]]. Lack was taught biology at Gresham's by W.H. Foy and G.H. Lockett.<ref>Anderson (2013):6-9.</ref> He went to [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]] and received a BA second class in 1933 after studying botany, zoology and geology for part I of the Tripos and zoology for part II.<ref>Anderson (2013):15.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Lack, David|year=1973|title=My life as an amateur ornithologist|journal=Ibis|volume=115|pages=421–431|doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1973.tb01982.x|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Until the age of fifteen, Lack lived in a large house in Devonshire Place, London. The family spent their summers in New Romney Kent where Lack became familiar with the local birds especially on Romney Marsh.<ref>Anderson (2013):6-7.</ref> By the age of nine, he had learnt the names of most birds and had written out an alphabetically arranged life-list.<ref name=thorpe/> In 1926, Lack won the Holland-Martin Natural History Prize for an essay on "Three Birds of Kelling Heath".<ref>Anderson (2013):12.</ref> In 1928, with an essay on 'My favourite birds' he was the national winner of the senior prize (a silver medal) in the Public School Essay Competition, organised by the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]].<ref>"Public School Essay Competition", ''The Times'', 17 December 1928; p. 12; Issue 45078; col C</ref> David did not wish to follow his father's profession in medicine and took an interest in zoology. His father then considered entomology which was then the only professional field in zoology and found work for David at the Frankfurt museum in the summer of 1929. He spent four months pinning insects in the [[Naturmuseum Senckenberg|Senckenberg Museum]] and found it “extremely” boring.<ref>Anderson (2013):14.</ref> He joined the Cambridge Ornithological Club whose members included [[Peter Scott]], [[Arthur Duncan]], [[Dominic Serventy]], and [[Tom Harrisson]]. His first scientific paper was on the display of nightjars, published in the Ibis in 1932. He joined on several expeditions with Cambridge researchers including two to the Arctic.<ref>Anderson (2013):17-18.</ref> Lack wrote ''The Birds of Cambridgeshire'' (1934) which was published by the Cambridge Bird Club. In this work, he departed from the contemporary style with a distinct de-emphasis on rare and accidental birds.<ref>Anderson (2013):3.</ref>

Lack received an Sc.D. from Cambridge University in 1948.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Thorpe, W.H.|year=1973|url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V66/V66_N07/V66_N07_P299_302_OB054.pdf|journal=British Birds|volume=66|issue=1|pages=299–302|title=Obituary. David Lambert Lack ScD, FRS (1910-1973)|access-date=10 October 2018|archive-date=28 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428103603/https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V66/V66_N07/V66_N07_P299_302_OB054.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>