Jacob Bobart, the younger, (2 August 1641 – 28 December 1719), was an English

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 ...

Background

Bobart was the younger son of Jacob Bobart. He was born at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and succeeded his father as superintendent of the

Physic Garden A physic garden is a type of herb garden with medicinal plants. Botanical gardens developed from them. History Modern botanical gardens were preceded by medieval physic gardens, often monastic gardens, that existed by 800 at least. Gardens of ...

, and on the death of Dr.

Robert Morison Robert Morison (162010 November 1683) was a Scottish botanist and taxonomist. A forerunner of John Ray, he elucidated and developed the first systematic classification of plants.Vines Biography Born in Aberdeen, Morison was an outstanding ...

in 1683, lectured as botanical professor. In 1699 he brought out the third part of Morison's ''Historia Plantarum'', the second having been issued during the writer's life in 1680, whilst the first was never printed. In

Zachary Grey Zachary Grey (6 May 1688 – 1766) was an English priest, controversialist, and conservative spokesman for the Church of England. He was also an editor, commentator on William Shakespeare, and critic of dissenter historians. Life Grey was the ...

's ''Notes on Hudibras'' occurs the following: : "Mr. Jacob Bobart, botany professor of Oxford, did about forty years ago (in 1704) find a dead rat in the Physic Garden, which he made to resemble the common picture of dragons by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it mimicked wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. Magliabechi, librarian to the

Grand Duke of Tuscany The rulers of Tuscany varied over time, sometimes being margraves, the rulers of handfuls of border counties and sometimes the heads of the most important family of the region. Margraves of Tuscany, 812–1197 House of Boniface :These were origin ...

. Several fine copies of verses were wrote upon so rare a subject; but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat. However, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of art, and as such deposited in the museum or anatomy school at Oxford".

Resignation

Whilst he held this appointment he formed a "

hortus siccus A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, 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 sh ...

" according to the fashion of the times in twelve volumes folio, which is kept at the garden. He vainly tried for the post of curator to the Apothecaries' Garden at Chelsea in 1692. Consul

William Sherard William Sherard (27 February 1659 – 11 August 1728) was an English botanist. Next to John Ray, he was considered to be one of the outstanding English botanists of his day. Life He is still a little-known figure of that era coming as he did from ...

, who afterwards left his library and an endowment to the Oxford Garden, wrote in July 1719 that Vice-chancellor Shippen had compelled Bobart, 'my old master,' who was then in weak health, to resign the office of botanic professor, Dr. E. Sandys receiving the post. He says: "I am surprised the vice-chancellor hath obliged Mr. Bobart to resign his place... they ought to have let him spend the short remainder of his time in the garden." He died on 28 December 1719, and was buried two days later.

Annals

Among the Sherardian letters in the library 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 ...

are fourteen from Bobart to the consul, and in the ' Sloane MS.,' No. 3343, in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, are many of Bobart's memoranda of considerable gardening interest. An interleaved copy of Bauhin's ''Pinax'', with copious annotations by Bobart, is in the botanical department of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

at Cromwell Road, and an interleaved copy of the ''Oxford Garden Catalogue'', in the possession of the writer, has a few additions in same handwriting. The genus

Bobartia ''Bobartia'' is a genus of evergreen, perennial and bulbous plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). The genus comprises 15 species distributed in South Africa. The genus name is a tribute to German botanist Jakob Bobart. List of species *''Bob ...

was named in honour of the two Bobarts by Linnæus in the ''Amœnitates Academicæ''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobart, Jacob 1641 births 1719 deaths 17th-century English botanists 18th-century British botanists Scientists from Oxford