Coslett Herbert Waddell (Rev.) (March 6, 1858 at Drumcro,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

– June 8, 1919) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, (

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

), and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. He was related, via his mother Maria Langtry, to

Lillie Langtry Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer. Born on the isl ...

, the "Jersey Lily". He went to

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he eventually graduated as well: he got his B.A. in 1880 and his M.A. in 1888. He followed his religious calling and was ordained as a deacon in 1881 and priest in 1882. He became vicar in

Saintfield Saintfield () is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is about halfway between Belfast and Downpatrick on the A7 road. It had a population of 3,381 in the 2011 Census, made up mostly of commuters working in both south a ...

in 1890 and rector of

Greyabbey Greyabbey or Grey Abbey is a small village, townland (of 208 acres) and civil parish located on the eastern shores of Strangford Lough, on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards. Both townland and c ...

in 1912. While being a priest in several consecutive parishes, he continued his studies and became

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

in 1892. He showed an early interest in botany, in which he was aided by S.A. Stewart. From 1893 onwards he was a contributor to the ''Journal of Botany'' and a frequent contributor to the ''Irish Naturalist''. He was the author of many botanical papers. He is known for work on difficult genera of flowering plants, such as brambles, roses, hawkweeds and knotweeds where asexual reproduction dominates leading to many

microspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. He was the first to record the rare Seaside Centaury ('' Centaurium littorale'') in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1913. He was especially interested and specialised in

bryophytes The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited i ...

, especially

liverworts The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ge ...

and proposed the establishment of the Moss Exchange Club in 1896. This members club for exchange of specimens and information later developed into the

British Bryological Society The British Bryological Society is an academic society dedicated to bryology, which encourages the study of bryophytes ( mosses, liverworts and hornworts). It publishes the peer-reviewed ''Journal of Bryology''. History The Society developed f ...

. A large collection of his specimens is in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, having been donated in 1919 to the

Queen's University of Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

after his death by his widow. He took a warm interest in the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club and served on the Committee. He died at Greyabbey, where he was incumbent, and was buried at Maralin.

Publications

* Waddell, C.H. 1905. ''Glyceria festucaeformis'' at Portaferry. ''Irish Naturalists'' 14: 19. * Waddell, C.H. 1912. Some

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

plants. ''Irish Naturalists'' 21: 133-134. * Waddell, C.H. 1917. Rare plants of the Co. Down coast. ''Irish Naturalists'' 26: 12-13.

References

* Praeger, R. Lloyd. 1919. Obituary. Rev. Coslett Herbert Waddell, B.D. ''The Irish Naturalist Journal'' 28: 108. * Praeger, R. Lloyd. 1949. Some Irish Naturalists. A biographical note-book. Dundalk.
The Herbarium of the National Museum and Galleries of Northern Ireland. The Ulster Museum
(.pdf file on line) {{DEFAULTSORT:Waddell, Coslett Herbert People from County Antrim 1858 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Irish botanists 19th-century Irish Anglican priests 20th-century Irish Anglican priests Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 20th-century Irish botanists