Isabella Gifford (1825–1891) was a Welsh-born botanist. In 1848, she published ''The Marine Botanist,'' a book which focuses on

algology Algology may refer to: *Algology (medicine), the study of pain *Phycology, also known as algology, the study of algae *Marine botany Marine botany is the study of flowering vascular plant species and marine algae that live in shallow seawater o ...

. Some of her specimens are in the Ulster Museum.

Biography

Isabella Gifford was born at

Defynnog Defynnog, also known as Devynock in some historical documents, is a small village in the community of Maescar in the historic county of Brecknockshire, Wales, now lying within the unitary authority area of Powys. It lies immediately south of Se ...

Brecknockshire , image_flag= , HQ= Brecon , Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= Brycheiniog , Status= , Start= 1535 , End= ...

, Wales, in 1825. She was the first child of Isabella Christie and Captain George St John Gifford, who were married the year before. She lived in France, Jersey, and for a time at Falmouth before settling with her parents in

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National P ...

, Somerset, around 1850. Gifford seems to have been mostly self-taught as a scientist with a variety of family links to science. Her uncles included Dr Thomas Southwood Smith and Richard Cowling Taylor.

Studies in botany

Isabella Gifford was primarily an algologist, studying algae. In 1848 she published ''The Marine Botanist; an introduction to the study of algology, containing descriptions of the commonest British sea-weeds''. According to the Journal of Botany, this 1848 study of British seaweeds was "well received". She contributed to the proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1851. Though she primarily studied algae, Gifford was survived by her collections of vascular plants and mosses, many of which are now contained within museums including Bolton Museum and Art Gallery and St Andrews University Botany Department.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Isabella 1825 births 1891 deaths 19th-century British botanists 19th-century British women scientists 19th-century Welsh scientists 19th-century Welsh writers 19th-century Welsh women writers British women botanists British phycologists Women phycologists People from Brecknockshire Welsh botanists