Charles Spence Bate

Charles Spence Bate, FRS (March 16, 1819, Truro, Cornwall – July 29, 1889, Devon) was a British zoologist and dentist.

He was born at Trenick House near Truro, the son of Charles Bate (1789–1872) and Harriet Spence (1788–1879). Charles adopted "Spence Bate" as his surname, perhaps to distinguish himself from his father, and used that name consistently in his publications; it was also used consistently by his contemporaries to refer to him.

He practiced dentistry first at Swansea, and then at Plymouth, taking over his father's practice. He was president of the Odontology Society.

He was an authority on the Crustacea, for which he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1861 , and a frequent correspondent of Charles Darwin, mostly concerning their shared interest in barnacles. Together with John Obadiah Westwood, he wrote "A history of the British sessile-eyed Crustacea" in 1868. He wrote reports on the crustaceans collected during the HMS Challenger expedition of 1872-1876.

He died in 1889 at The Rock, South Brent, Devon and was buried in Plymouth cemetery. He was married twice, firstly to Emily Amelia, the daughter of John Hele. She died in 1884 and he remarried in 1887.

A number of species are named in his honour:

• Pseudoparatanais batei (G. O. Sars, 1882)
• Amphilochus spencebatei (Stebbing, 1876)
• Scyllarus batei Holthuis, 1946
• Costa batei (Brady, 1866)
• Periclimenes batei Holthuis, 1959