Lulworth skipper S. A. von Rottemburg in 1775. The butterfly was first discovered in Britain on 15 August 1832, when specimens were taken from Lulworth Cove in Dorset by English naturalist James Charles Dale It was introduced the following year as the Lulworth skipper ("Thymelicus acteon"), a name that has remained unchanged; it is the only one of Britain's vernacular butterfly names for which there has never been a proposed substitute. The male Lulworth skipper has a wingspan of , and the female 25 to 28 mm. This makes it one of Britain's smallest butterflies and, in Europe, the smallest member of
SS Lulworth Hill "Leonardo da Vinci" captured and took on board one survivor of the sinking, James Leslie Hull. After 29 days the UK authorities assumed that the "Lulworth Hill" had been lost with all hands and duly informed their families. On 7 May the Royal Navy R-class destroyer picked up one of the "Lulworth Hill"'s liferafts. Of the 14 men that had survived the sinking, after 50 days adrift only two, Seaman Shipwright ("i.e." carpenter) Kenneth Cooke and Able Seaman Colin Armitage, remained alive. On 7 December 1943 both men were awarded the George Medal and on 7 November 1944 the Lloyd's