Lady Anne Brewis (26 March 1911 – 31 March 2002), was an English botanist. She was a daughter of

Roundell Cecil Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne Roundell Cecil Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne, CH, PC (15 April 1887 – 3 September 1971), known as "Top Wolmer" and styled Viscount Wolmer from 1895 to 1941, was a British administrator, intelligence officer and Conservative politician. Bac ...

. As a child, Brewis had spent long holidays studying the orchids on

Noar Hill Noar Hill is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Selborne in Hampshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and part of East Hampshire Hangers Special Area of Conservation. An area of is a nature reserve mana ...

, near

Selborne Selborne is a village in Hampshire, England, south of Alton, Hampshire, Alton, and just within the northern boundary of the South Downs National Park. The village receives visitors because of its links with the naturalist Revd. Gilbert White, a ...

. This led her to study the works of Gilbert White, and eventually to a degree in

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

. Her marriage to

John Brewis Henry John Brewis (8 April 1920 – 25 May 1989) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician and barrister. Early life Brewis was born on 8 April 1920. He was the only son and youngest child of Dorothy Katharine ( Walker) Brewis and Francis Berti ...

took her to many localities before returning to Hampshire on her husband's retirement. Over the next 27 years, she meticulously catalogued hundreds of species, and co-authored the definitive guide to Hampshire's plant life. Every summer she would organise botanical safaris for local children.

Bibliography

*''The Flora of Hampshire'', Bowman P, Brewis A, Mabey R, Rose F. 1996. Harley Books. . (This 1996 book was preceded by the ''Flora of Hampshire'', 2nd edition, 1904 by

Frederick Townsend Frederick Townsend (September 21, 1825 – September 12, 1897) was a Union officer in the American Civil War. He founded and was Colonel of the 3rd New York Infantry Regiment, and later served with the US Army's 18th and 9th Infantry regiments, ...

.) *''Natural History of Selborne'', White G. 1789 (repr: 1977) Penguin London, Hampshire''(1996).

References

British women botanists English botanists 1911 births 2002 deaths Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Daughters of British earls Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British women scientists Anne People from Selborne {{England-botanist-stub