Arthur Henfrey (1 November 1819 – 7 September 1859) was an English surgeon and botanist. Arthur Henfrey Maull Polyblank

Life

Henfrey was born of English parents at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 1 November 1819. He studied medicine and surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and was admitted a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

in 1843. Poor health caused him to give up his medical career. In 1847 Henfrey lectured on plants at the medical school of St. George's Hospital. He then succeeded

Edward Forbes Edward Forbes FRS, FGS (12 February 1815 – 18 November 1854) was a Manx naturalist. In 1846, he proposed that the distributions of montane plants and animals had been compressed downslope, and some oceanic islands connected to the mainlan ...

in the botanical chair at King's College London in 1853; and was examiner in natural history to the Royal Military Academy and also to the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. He was elected an associate of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

in 1843, and a fellow in the next year. In 1852 he was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Henfrey died at

Turnham Green Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Little S ...

on 7 September 1859. The genus ''Henfreya'' of John Lindley, of the Acanthaceæ, was merged into the ''

Asystasia The genus ''Asystasia'' belongs to the family Acanthaceae and comprises approximately 70 species found in the tropics, including the weedy species ''Asystasia gangetica''. Selected species * '' Asystasia africana'' (S. Moore) C.B. Clarke * '' A ...

'' of Blume.

Works

Henfrey wrote: * ''Anatomical Manipulations'', 1844, with Alfred Tulk.
''Outlines of Structural and Physiological Botany''
1847.
''Reports and Papers on Botany''
Ray Society, 1849. * ''The Rudiments of Botany'', 1849; 2nd edit. 1859. * ''The Vegetation of Europe, its Conditions and Causes'', 1852. * ''The Relations of Botanical Science to other Branches of Knowledge'', 1854. * ''Introductory Address, King's College, London'', 1856. * ''An Elementary Course of Botany'', 1857; fourth ed. 1884. * ''On the Educational Claims of Botanical Science'', 1857. He translated: * ''On Vegetable Cells'', by Carl von Nägeli; for the Ray Society, 1846. * ''Chemical Field Lectures'', by Julius Adolph Stöckhardt, 1847. * ''The Earth, Plants, and Man'', by

Joakim Frederik Schouw Joakim Frederik Schouw (7 February 1789 – 28 April 1852) was a Danish lawyer, botanist and politician. From 1821, professor in botany at the University of Copenhagen — first extraordinary professor, but after the death of J.W. Hornemann in ...

, 1847.
''The Plant''
by Matthias Schleiden, 1848. * ''Principles of the Anatomy of the Vegetable Cell'', by

Hugo von Mohl Hugo von Mohl FFRS H FRSE (8 April 1805 – 1 April 1872) was a German botanist from Stuttgart. He was the first person to use the word " protoplasm". Life He was a son of the Württemberg statesman Benjamin Ferdinand von Mohl (1766–18 ...

, 1851. * In: ''Botanical and physiological memoirs…'', 1853: *
''The phenomenon of rejuvenescence in nature, especially in the life and development of plants''
by

Alexander Braun Alexander Carl Heinrich Braun (10 May 1805 – 29 March 1877) was a German botanist from Regensburg, Bavaria. His research centered on the morphology of plants. Biography He studied botany in Heidelberg, Paris and Munich. In 1833 he began teachi ...

. Henfrey also edited: * '' Scientific Memoirs'' (New Series, Natural History), 1837, with

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stori ...

. * ''The Botanical Gazette'', 1849. * ''Journal of the Photographic Society'', vols. i. and ii., 1853. * ''Micrographic Dictionary'', 1854, with John William Griffith. * A revised and enlarged edition of George William Francis's ''Anatomy of the British Ferns'', 1855.

Family

Henfrey married Elizabeth Anne Henry, eldest daughter of the Hon. Jabez Henry. She survived her husband for more than 40 years, and died 86 years old at Hanworth House,

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...

, on 10 October 1902. Henry William Henfrey the numismatist was their son.

References

;Attribution

External links

Digitized works by or about Arthur Henfrey
at Biodiversity Heritage Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Henfrey, Arthur 1819 births 1859 deaths Academics of King's College London English surgeons English botanists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London