William Fawcett (1851–1926) was a British

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 ...

and coauthor of the ''Flora of Jamaica''. He was born in

Arklow Arklow (; ; , ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 re ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

, on 13 February 1851. He studied at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, obtaining a BSc in 1879. He became a

Fellow of the Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

in 1881 and was an assistant in the Department of Botany 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 ...

from 1880-1886. Fawcett was Director of Public Gardens and Plantations in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

from 1887 to 1908. He then returned to Britain where he worked with Alfred Barton Rendle to produce the first few volumes of the ''Flora of Jamaica'', (illustrated by Beatrice O. Corfe and

Helen Adelaide Wood Helen Adelaide Wood (August 17, 1860 – November 25, 1927) was a British botanical artist and scientific illustrator best known for the collection of her illustrations held at the Natural History Museum of Jamaica. She is also known for ...

).BHL: Metadata for ''Flora of Jamaica, containing descriptions of the flowering plants known from the island.
Retrieved 14 March 2019. He died at

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich and southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional ce ...

on 14 August 1926.

References

External links

*''Flora of Jamaica, containing descriptions of the flowering plants known from the island'', by William Fawcett and Alfred Barton Rendle. London 1910. at BH

*''The banana, its cultivation, distribution and commercial uses'', by William Fawcett. London, Duckworth 1921. at BH

*''Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, Jamaica'', by William Fawcett. Kingston, Botanical Dept., Vol.

Vol.

Vol.

Vol.

Vol.5 &

*''Economic plants. An index to economic products of the vegetable kingdom in Jamaica '' by William Fawcett. Jamaica, Govt. Print. Establishment 1891. at BH

*''A provisional list of the indigenous and naturalised flowering plants of Jamaica '',by William Fawcett. Kingston 1893. at Nyb

1851 births 1926 deaths 19th-century British botanists 20th-century British botanists Botanists active in the Caribbean Jamaican academics {{UK-botanist-stub