A. W. Bennett (original) (raw)

Nature volume 65, page 321 (1902)Cite this article

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ALFRED WILLIAM BENNETT, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., the well-known lecturer on botany at St. Thomas's Hospital, and for many years a prominent figure in botanical circles, died suddenly from heart disease on January 23. Born at Ciapham in 1833, Mr. Bennett took the degree of B.A. (Lond.) in 1854, and afterwards spent ten years in business as a publisher. During this period he employed photography in the illustration of books, and was one of the first, if not the first, to do so. Shortly after taking his M.A. degree he had the misfortune to fall from a horse, an accident that somewhat seriously affected his health throughout his subsequent life. When the publication of NATURE was commenced, Mr. Bennett was appointed as the first sub-editor, and he occupied that postion for several years. He received the appointment of lecturer on botany at St. Thomas's Hospital nearly thirty years ago. Botanical students will remember Mr. Bennett as the translator of the third edition of Sachs's classical “Lehrbuch der Botanik” and of Thomé's Lehrbuch. His enthusiastic study of the flora of the Swiss Alps found expression in some important works for the use of students of Alpine botany. His translation of Dalla-Torre's “Tourist's Guide to the Flora of the Alps”was issued in 1886, and previously he edited Seboth's “Alpine Plants Painted from Nature,”a work in four volumes. His useful “Flora of the Alps,”in two octavo volumes, accompanied by 120 coloured plates, appeared in 1897. He devoted much attention to the Cryptogams, as witnessed by the excellent “Handbook of Cryptogamic Botany,”a work executed in conjunction with Mr. George Murray and published in 1889. With regard to the systematic study of the Phanerogams, Mr. Bennett confined his labours chiefly to the Polygalaceae, which he monographed for the “Flora of British India ”and the “Flora Brasiliensis,”dealing with the order also in some important papers contributed to the Journal of Botany. In the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers he appears as the sole author of forty-six. papers, many of which are based on his observations respecting the fertilisation of flowers. Elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1868, he served for some years on the council of that society, and was one of the vice-presidents for 1891–92. He was also a fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, of which he was a vice-president in 1899–1900, and the editor of its Journal since 1897.

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S., S. A. W. Bennett .Nature 65, 321 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065321a0

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