George Claridge Druce

George Claridge Druce (born May 23, 1850 in Potterspury , Northamptonshire , England , † February 29, 1932 in Oxford ) was an English botanist and chemist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Druce ".

Live and act

George Claridge Druce was born the illegitimate son of his never married mother Jane Druce (* 1815 in Woughton-on-the-Green , Buckinghamshire ). At the age of 16 he was an apprentice at the pharmaceutical company P. Jeyes & Co. in Northampton . In 1872 he passed the pharmaceutical exams and became a “retail chemist”. However, his real interest was botany . In 1876 he helped found the Northampton Natural History Society .

Druce had signed an agreement with his employer assuring that he would not operate a competing business within 30 miles. He went to Oxford in June 1879, where he invested his savings of about £ 400 in starting his own drugstore, Druce & Co. at 118 on the High Street.

In 1880 he helped found the Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire . In 1886 he published his work The Flora of Oxfordshire . In 1889 Druce received an honorary MA from Oxford University . In 1895 he was appointed "Fielding Curator in the Department of Botany".

Druce served Oxford City Council from 1892 until his death. He was chairman of the Public Health Committee for 30 years . From 1896 to 1897 he was Sheriff of Oxford , from 1900 to 1901 Mayor of Oxford . In 1909 he moved to number 9 on Crick Road within Oxford.

1920 Druce became an Alderman (about: Assistant Secretary ) appointed. In 1927 he was elected as a member (" Fellow ") in the Royal Society .

Druce died at his home on Crick Road, which he called Yardley Lodge , on February 29, 1932 at the age of 82. He was buried in Holywell Cemetery .

Works

• The Flora of Oxfordshire . 1886 (2nd edition. 1927).
• The Dillenian Herbaria . 1907 (edited by Sydney Howard Vines ).
• List of British plants ... 1908 (2nd edition. 1928 under the title " British plant list ... ").
• with Sydney Howard Vines: An Account of the Morisonian Herbarium in the possession of the University of Oxford . 1914.
• The comital flora of the British Isles . 1932.

swell

• Robert Zander : Zander concise dictionary of plant names . Ed .: Fritz Encke , Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold . 13th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8001-5042-5 .
• Entry to Druce; George Claridge (1850–1932) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
• Short biography at headington.org.uk (engl.)

Web links

• Author entry and list of described plant names for George Claridge Druce at the IPNI