Frederick Hamilton Davey (1868–1915) was a British amateur botanist who devoted most of his leisure time to the study of the flora of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England. Born at

Ponsanooth Ponsanooth ( kw, Pons an Woodh, meaning "bridge at the stream") is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about four miles southeast of Redruth and two and a half miles northwest of Penryn on the A393 road Redruth ...

in the Kennall Vale, Cornwall to a large family of limited means, he left school aged 11 to work in the Kennall Powder Mills. Encouraged by his father and local vicar, Davey took to Nature Study as his principal recreation. Of rather a weak constitution, he suffered successive bouts of ill-health, but used his convalescence to further his studies. In 1891, aged 23, he submitted his first paper to the Cornwall Polytechnic Society, followed by several more, earning him various medals in recognition of his industry. In 1899, Davey met

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and plant collector A. O. Hume, C.B., founder of the

South London Botanical Institute The South London Botanical Institute (SLBI) is an institution for the popularization of botany. It was founded in 1910 by Allan Octavian Hume, a former civil servant for the British Raj in India. After returning from India to England in 1894, an ...

, who was to accompany him on tours of Devon and Cornwall. This was clearly a seminal event, which led to Davey beginning his major opus, ''Flora of Cornwall'', for which he was to become renowned. In 1900, Davey began training as a chemist and assayer at the Redruth School of Mines, and two years later succeeded his father as Works Manager of the Cornwall Arsenic Company's factory at Bissoe, having acted as his father's assistant for several years. Several years later, Davey's health again deteriorated. In 1911 he suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

followed by a

cerebral thrombosis A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...

which left him unable to speak for the remainder of his life. He died on 23 September 1915, his body laid to rest in the Wesleyan Cemetery at Ponsanooth. He never married.

''Flora of Cornwall''

Davey's ''Flora of Cornwall'' (1909) is the standard flora of Cornwall. He was assisted by A. O. Hume and he thanks Hume, his companion on excursions in Cornwall and Devon, for his help in the compilation of that Flora, publication of which was financed by Hume. Davey gives an account of all the reports of Cornish plants from 1576 until his own time and divides the county into eight districts. The ''Flora'' was a formidable undertaking, with little time available, neither library nor herbarium accessible, and no existing works to consult. Nevertheless, with the aid of his band of voluntary helpers recruited through the offices of the

Royal Institution of Cornwall The Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) is a Learned society in Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was founded in Truro on 5 February 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution. The Institution was one of the earliest of seven ...

and a letter to the local paper, he completed the ''Flora''. Comprising 600 pages, the book was published in 1909 by Chegwidden, Penryn. The Isles of Scilly are covered by the Flora but not very thoroughly: there is a good Flora of Scilly by J. E. Lousley. Thurston and Vigurs published a supplement to the flora in 1922 and in 1981 L. J. Margetts and R. W. David published ''A Review of the Cornish Flora. 1980'' Pool: Institute of Cornish Studies , providing information on another sixty years of study.

Eponymy

The

Cornish elm The field elm cultivar ''Ulmus minor'' 'Stricta', known as Cornish elm, was commonly found in South West England (Cornwall and West Devon), Brittany, and south-west Ireland, until the arrival of Dutch elm disease in the late 1960s. The origin o ...

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

'Daveyi' was named for Davey by

Augustine Henry Augustine Henry (2 July 1857 – 23 March 1930) was a British-born Irish plantsman and sinologist. He is best known for sending over 15,000 dry specimens and seeds and 500 plant samples to Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom. By 1930, he was a rec ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davey, Frederick Hamilton 1868 births 1915 deaths English botanists Scientists from Cornwall