Frederick Manson Bailey (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist active in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. He was known by his middle name, Manson.

Early life

Bailey was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the second son of John Bailey (horticulturist and first Colonial Botanist of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

) and his wife, ''née'' Manson. Frederick was educated at the foundation school of the Independent Church at Hackney, London. The family went to Australia in 1838 arriving at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

on 22 March 1839 in the ''Buckinghamshire''. John Bailey was appointed colonial botanist soon afterwards and was asked to form a botanic garden. John Bailey resigned in 1841, began farming, and subsequently started a plant nursery at Adelaide. In these ventures, he was assisted by his son, Frederick.

Career

In 1858, Bailey went to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and took up land in the

Hutt Valley The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...

. In 1861, Frederick started a seedsman's business in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. For some years, he was collecting in various parts of Queensland, and he also contributed articles to the newspapers on plant life. Bailey married Anna Maria, eldest daughter of the Rev. T. Waite in 1856. In 1874, Bailey published a ''Handbook to the Ferns of Queensland'', and in the following year was made botanist to the board appointed to investigate diseases of livestock and plants. Consequently, Bailey in 1879 published ''An Illustrated Monograph of the Grasses of Queensland'' with Karl Staiger. He was afterwards put in charge of the botanical section of the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museum in South Brisbane with specialist mu ...

, in 1881 was made colonial botanist of Queensland, and held this position until his death. He published in 1881 ''The Fern World of Australia'', and in 1883 appeared ''A Synopsis of the Queensland Flora'', a work of nearly 900 pages to which supplementary volumes were added in later years. This work was superseded by ''The Queensland Flora'', published in six volumes between 1899 and 1902 with an index published three years later. In the meantime, there had been ''A Companion for the Queensland Student of Plant Life and Botany Abridged'' (1897), a revised reissue of two earlier pamphlets. Among other works of Bailey was ''A Catalogue of the Indigenous and Naturalised Plants of Queensland'' (1890). This was expanded into a ''Comprehensive Catalogue of Queensland Plants, Both Indigenous and Naturalised'' (1912), which appeared with many illustrations. Bailey travelled widely, important expeditions included

Rockingham Bay Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia. The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island is a smal ...

Seaview Range The Seaview Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, is a mountain range located west of Ingham in North Queensland, Australia. Much of the range is covered by rainforest and parts of it are protected in the Girringun National Park and the We ...

and the upper

Herbert River The Herbert River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The southernmost of Queensland's wet tropics river systems, it was named in 1864 by George Elphinstone Dalrymple explorer, after Robert George Wyndham Herbert, the fir ...

(1873), western Queensland, Roma and

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

(1876),

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

and the Barron River (1877),

Bellenden Ker Mount Bellenden Ker is the second-highest mountain in Queensland, Australia, with a height of . It is named after the botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler. Located south of Cairns near Babinda, it is adjacent to Mount Bartle Frere, the state' ...

(1889),

Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Geor ...

(1895),

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...

(1897) and

British New Guinea The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...

(1898). Bailey was awarded the

Clarke Medal The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, the oldest learned society in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the Natural sciences. The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Bran ...

of the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...

in 1902, and was created C.M.G. in 1911. Bailey died on 25 June 1915 at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. He is buried in

South Brisbane Cemetery South Brisbane Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at 21 Fairfield Road and Annerley Road, Dutton Park, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, adjacent to the Brisbane River. It was built from 1870 to 1990s. It is also known as Dutton Par ...

."Inscription for Frederick Manson Bailey"
''Australian Cemeteries Index''. Retrieved 18 October 2012.

Legacy

Bailey's name has been attached to about 50 species of plants by fellow botanists, such as ''

Acacia baileyana ''Acacia baileyana'' or Cootamundra wattle is a shrub or tree in the flowering plant family Fabaceae. The scientific name of the species honours the botanist Frederick Manson Bailey. It is indigenous to a very small area in southern inland New ...

'' and ''

Grevillea baileyana ''Grevillea edelfeltii'', commonly known as white oak, is a tree of the family Proteaceae and is native to the rainforests of north-east Queensland in Australia and to Papua New Guinea. Description In its native rainforest habitat, ''Grevillea ...

''. A son,

John Frederick Bailey John Frederick Bailey (5 August 1866 – 19 May 1938) was a botanist and horticulturist active in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th century. Bailey became Director of the Botanic Gardens of Brisbane in 1905. He succeeded his father, Fre ...

, who survived him, was director of the Brisbane and then Adelaide botanic gardens.

References

*E. N. Marks,
Bailey, Frederick Manson (1827 - 1915)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 3, MUP, 1969, pp 73–74. * *Australian National Botanic Garden
Bailey, Frederick M. (1827-1915)

External links

*Vie
works by F.M. Bailey
at

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

. *Entry fo
F.M. Bailey
in Taxonomic Literature II Online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Frederick Manson 20th-century Australian botanists Pteridologists 1827 births 1915 deaths Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 19th-century British botanists