Arthur Harry Church

Arthur Harry Church FRS[1] (28 March 1865 – 24 April 1937) was a British botanist and botanical illustrator.

Biography

Church was born in Plymouth, England, the son of a saddler, and went to school locally. In 1887 his mother died and, with his inheritance of £100, he went to University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. With a first (London external) degree in Botany he won in 1891 a scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford, obtaining a first-class Oxford degree in botany in 1894.

He was a Research Fellow of Jesus College from 1908 to 1912 and University Reader in Botany from 1910 to 1930. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1921.[1] His particular fields of interest were phyllotaxy, the development and arrangement of parts of the flower and one-celled sea plants.[2] He was a fine illustrator and photographer, sometimes illustrating his own publications.[3]

He married Emma Palmer Pratt of Aberystwith. They had three daughters. Each daughter was given as her middle name the name of a plant in flower at the time of her birth: Audrey Althea (hollyhock), Rosemary Doronica (Doronicum orientale) and Grace Coryla (hazel).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tansley, A. G. (1939). "Arthur Harry Church. 1865-1937". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 2 (7): 432–426. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1939.0001.
  2. ↑ "Dr. A. H. Church An Oxford Botanist". The Times. April 29, 1937. p. 18.
  3. ↑ Mabberley, D. J. (2004). "Church, Arthur Harry (1865–1937)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2008-07-22.

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