John Hamel Elgood (1909-1998) was born in Dulwich and educated at Whitgift School and St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, where he studied botany and zoology. He worked at Regent Street Polytechnic, London, before being recruited to the Zoology Department of the University College of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1949, where his main focus changed from marine zoology to ornithology. In 1951 he discovered and described a new species of weaver, the Malimbus ibadanensis. In 1964 he founded the Nigerian Ornithologists' Society, which later became the West African Ornithological Society. He returned to England in 1965 and was appointed to the Chair of Biology at Goldsmiths' College, London, and, for a short period, was Acting Head of Biology in the University of Papua New Guinea. He was a member of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU), serving as Vice-President from 1979-1983, and the British Ornithologists' Club (BOC).

Biographical history written with reference to:

Fry, C. Hilary (1999), Obituary: John H. Elgood (1909-98), Ibis, vol. 141, no. 3, p. 523.

Sharland, R.E. (1999), Obituary: John Hamel Elgood 1909-1998, Malimbus, vol. 21, pp. 74–75, 127–128.