Charles Cardale Babington

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Cardale Babington based on an 1896 painting by W. Vizard

Charles Cardale Babington (born November 23, 1808 in Ludlow , † July 22, 1895 in Cambridge ) was a British botanist and archaeologist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ Bab. “Babington is the author of the Manual of British Botany , the first edition of which appeared in 1843, which has long been considered the standard work on British flora . After the death of John Stevens Henslow in 1861 Babington was his successor on the chair of botany at the University of Cambridge .

Live and act

Charles Cardale Babington was a son of Joseph Babington (1768-1826) and his wife Catherine, nee Whitter. His father, who was trained as a doctor, was ordained after his birth . Because of his work as a clergyman, Babington's family moved frequently, initially mainly in the Midlands and later in Wessex , which involved frequent school changes in Babington. Finally his father retired in Bath . Babington attended Charterhouse School from 1821 to 1823 and from 1823 to 1826 as a day boy a school in Bath. Together with his father, he went on numerous excursions which aroused his interest in botany at an early stage. On October 11, 1826, Babington began studying at St John's College , Cambridge . In Cambridge he became acquainted with the professor of botany John Stevens Henslow and actually became his assistant. In 1830 Babington graduated with a Baccalaureus Artium. On June 1, 1830, he became a member of the Linnean Society of London . In 1833 Babington graduated as a Baccalaureus Artium. In the meantime he had developed an increased interest in beetles and in May 1833 was one of the founding members of the Entomological Society of London .

In 1834 Babington published his first botanical work with Flora Bathoniensis , a list of the plants growing in the vicinity of Bath. Together with John Ball he visited Ireland in 1835 and wrote a report about it that was published in the Magazine of Natural History . On December 16, 1835, Babington became a member of the Geological Society of London . Babington was one of the founding members of the called and on 11 March 1837 to life after John Ray named Ray Club , from the 1844 Ray Society emerged. On April 28, 1838 he was elected their secretary, an office he held until 1893.

1839 followed with Primitiae Flora Sarnicae , a flora of the Channel Islands , Babington's second book - the origin of which were two extended vacations - which Babington spent there with Reverend William Williamson Newboald . In 1841 he accompanied John Hutton Balfour to the Outer Hebrides . In 1842 he became co-editor of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History . After nine years of preparation, Babington's Manual of British Botany was published in 1843 . It replaced Johann Jacob Dillens' third edition of John Ray's Synopsis methodica Stirpium Britannicarum , published in 1724, as the standard work on British flora and was published eight times during Babington's lifetime. In 1846 his Synopsis of the British Rubi appeared , which marked the beginning of his lifelong occupation with the genus Rubus , which culminated in the publication of the book The British Rubi in 1869 . The illustrations planned for the book by John William Salter (1820–1869) could not be realized due to his death. Also in 1846, Babington made the only trip on which he left the British Isles and which led him to Iceland .

On June 5, 1851, he was accepted as a member of the Royal Society , but never very actively participated in the activities of the society. In 1853, 1858 and 1861 Babington was President of Section D of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which was responsible for botany and zoology . In 1860, two hundred years after John Ray's Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium , Babington published his Flora of Cambridgeshire , which gave a detailed overview of the plant species common in Cambridgeshire .

After the death of John Stevens Henslow, Babington was appointed as his successor to the chair of botany at the University of Cambridge . During this time he had a larger building erected for the herbarium and acquired the collections of John Lindley and Léon Gaston Genevier (1830–1880) for this. On April 3, 1866, he married Anna Maria, daughter of John Walker of the Madras Civil Service .

In addition to botany, Babington was very interested in archeology . He was one of the founders of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, founded in 1840 . In their publications he published more than 50 articles. He was also involved in the Cambrian Archaeological Association whose committee he chaired for thirty years and whose president he was in 1881. His main archaeological work, published in 1851, was entitled Ancient Cambridgeshire . It was an attempt to track down Roman roads and other ancient roads in Cambridgeshire. A greatly expanded edition appeared in 1883.

In 1891, Babington fell ill with acute pneumonia , which was shortly followed by rheumatic illness, which from then on forced him to use a wheelchair . Francis Darwin held his lectures on his behalf . Charles Cardale Babington was buried in Cherry Hinton Cemetery on July 26, 1895 . He bequeathed his library, which consists of around 1,600 volumes, to the University of Cambridge.

Dedication names

John Lindley named the plant genus Babingtonia from the myrtle family in his honor in 1842 .

Fonts (selection)

Books
  • Flora Bathoniensis: or, a catalog of the plants indigenous to the vicinity of Bath . Bath / Bristol / London 1834 ( online ).
    • Supplement to the Flora Bathoniensis . [E. Collins, Bath 1839].
  • Primitiae Flora Sarnicae or, an Outline of the Flora of the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Serk . Longman & Co., London 1839 ( online ).
  • Manual of British botany, containing the flowering plants and ferns arranged according to natural orders . John Van Voorst, London 1843 ( online ).
  • Flora of Cambridgeshire: or A catalog of plants found in the county of Cambridge; with references to former catalogs, and the localities of the rarer species . John Van Voorst, London 1860 ( online ).
  • The British Rubi: An attempt to discriminate the species of Rubus known to inhabit the British Isles . John Van Voorst, London 1869 ( online ).
  • Ancient Cambridgeshire: or, An attempt to trace Roman and other ancient roads that passed through the country of Cambridge; with a record of the places where Roman coins and other remains have been found . 2nd expanded edition, Printed for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Cambridge 1883 ( online ).
Magazine articles

Babington published about 150 articles in various journals, including:

  • Observations made during a Visit to Connamara and Joyce's Country, Ireland, in August, 1835 . In: Magazine of natural history and journal of zoology, botany, mineralogy, geology and meteorology . Volume 9, 1836, pp. 119-130 ( online ).
  • Localities of several Species of British Plants, observed during the Summer of 1835 . In: Magazine of natural history and journal of zoology, botany, mineralogy, geology and meteorology . Volume 9, 1836, pp. 243-246 ( online ).
  • Descriptions of those species of Polygonum and Fagopyrum which are contained in the Indian Herbarium of J. Forbes Royle, Esq., FLS, & c., Late Superintendant of the HEI Botanical Garden at Saharunpore, and now Professor of Materia Medica in King's College, London . In: Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . Volume 18, Number 1, June 1838, pp. 93-119 ( online ).
  • A Synopsis of the British Rubi . In: Annals and Magazine of Natural History . Volume 17, Number 111, 1846, pp. 165-175 ( online ).
  • A Revision of the Flora of Iceland . In: Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany . Volume 11, Number 53, May 1870, pp. 282-348 ( online ).

proof

literature

  • DE Allen: Babington, (Charles) Cardale (1808–1895). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Volume 8: Brown-Burstow. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861358-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), Last updated: 2004, accessed October 3, 2012.
  • Anna Maria Babington: Memorials, journal and botanical correspondence of Charles Cardale Babington . Macmillan and Bowes, Cambridge 1897 ( online ).
  • Frederic Boase: Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Since the Year 1850, with an Index of the most Interesting Matter . Volume 4, Netherton & Worth, Truro 1906, col. 215-216.
  • James Britten: Charles Cardale Babington . In: Journal of botany, British and foreign . Volume 33, 1895, pp. 257-266 ( online ).
  • JGB: Obituary Notices of Fellows Deceased . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London . Volume 59, number 353-358, 1895, pp. VIII-X ( doi: 10.1098 / rspl.1895.0048 ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edwards's botanical register . Volume 28, 1842, plate 10 ( online ).
  2. ^ JGB: Obituary Notices of Fellows Deceased . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London . Volume 59, Numbers 353-358, 1895, p. IX.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Babington, Charles Cardale
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Babington, Cardale
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British botanist and archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludlow
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1895
Place of death Cambridge