Thomas William Woodhead (1863–1940) was an English

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. He was early proponent of

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

, who helped the growth of plant ecology as a discipline in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and later became Professor of Biology at Huddersfield Technical College. He was also a pioneer of

pollen analysis Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...

. He was appointed the Soppitt Librarian by the

Yorkshire Naturalists' Union The Yorkshire Naturalists' Union is an association of amateur and professional naturalists covering a wide range of aspects of natural history. It is one of United Kingdom's oldest extant wildlife organisations and oldest natural history federat ...

after the death of Henry Thomas Soppitt in 1899 and was later the first director of the

Tolson Museum The Tolson Memorial Museum, also known as Tolson Museum, is housed in Ravensknowle Hall, a Victorian mansion in Ravensknowle Park on Wakefield Road in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The museum was given to the town by Legh Tolson in m ...

, being responsible for the design and mission of the museum. He was the only British representative at the Fourth

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the location rotat ...

held in 1926.

Selected publications

*Woodhead, T. W. (1906). Ecology of woodland plants in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield. ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'', 37(261), 333–406. *Woodhead, T. W. (1915) ''The Study of Plants: An Introduction to Botany and Plant Ecology'' Oxford: At the Clarendon Press *Tolson, L. and Woodhead, T. W. (1921) ''History of Ravensknowle & Scheme for the Development of a Local Museum'' Huddersfield: County Borough of Huddersfield

References

People from Huddersfield 1863 births 1940 deaths 19th-century British botanists 20th-century British botanists English botanists {{Ecology-bio-stub