Henry Harold Welch Pearson
Encyclopedia
Long Sutton, Lincolnshire
Long Sutton, is a market town in Lincolnshire, England. Located in South Holland district, it lies close to the Wash.-Geography:The town has an estimated population of 5,037 in 2007. It is 13 miles east from Spalding.-Lincolnshire Fens:...
- 3 November 1916, Wynberg, Cape Town
Wynberg, Cape Town
Wynberg is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead and Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.- Geography :...
), was a British-born South African botanist, chiefly remembered for founding Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in 1913.
Pearson started his career as a chemist's assistant, but changed his interests after attending a lecture on plants by A. C. Seward
Albert Charles Seward
Albert Charles Seward FRS was a British botanist and geologist.-Life:His first education was at Lancaster Grammar School and then on to St. John's College at Cambridge following his parents' wish to dedicate his life to the Church...
at Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
in 1892. He taught for a while and was awarded a scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
in 1896, obtaining a first class in the Natural Science Tripos
Tripos
The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelor's degree by Tripos , plural Triposes. The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations...
.
Pearson published two papers in 1898, dealing with Bowenia spectabilis
Bowenia spectabilis
Bowenia spectabilis is a species of plant in the Stangeriaceae family. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.-Range:...
, a member of the Stangeriaceae
Stangeriaceae
Stangeriaceae is the smallest family of cycads, both in number of living and fossil species. The family contains only two living genera, Stangeria and Bowenia, though the latter genus has been recommended for placement in a separate family by itself....
from Australia. In the same year he explored the patanas (grassy uplands) in Ceylon for six months, having been awarded a Worts Travelling Scholars Fund. For this ecological dissertation he received the Walsingham Medal from Cambridge, the marine biologist Ernest William MacBride having been the first recipient in 1893. At Cambridge he was appointed Assistant Curator of the herbarium under Harry Marshall Ward
Harry Marshall Ward
Harry Marshall Ward was a British botanist, mycologist, and plant pathologist.Born in Hereford, Ward was educated at Lincoln Cathedral school. from c. 1864. He went on to scientific studies at the South Kensington Science and Art Department under Thomas Henry Huxley in 1874...
. Here taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
engaged his interest and he received a Frank Smart Studentship. The following year found him at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew where he was Assistant for India. His interest in Verbenaceae
Verbenaceae
Verbenaceae, commonly known as the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell.Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that...
led to his description of the family for Harvey
William Henry Harvey
William Henry Harvey was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae.- Biography :William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father Joseph Massey Harvey, was a Quaker and prominent merchant...
& Sonder's
Otto Wilhelm Sonder
Otto Wilhelm Sonder was a German botanist and pharmacist who was a native of Holstein. From 1841 to 1878 he was the proprietor of a pharmacy in Hamburg. In 1846 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Königsberg.He was the author, with William Henry Harvey , of the Flora Capensis...
Flora Capensis.
In 1903 Pearson became the first Harry Bolus
Harry Bolus
Harry Bolus was a South African botanist, botanical artist, businessman and philanthropist. He advanced botany in South Africa by establishing bursaries, founding the and bequeathing his library and a large part of his fortune to the South African College...
Professor of Botany at the South African College
South African College
The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools .-History:...
. In 1904 he set off for South West Africa
South West Africa
South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....
on the first of several expeditions with the object of studying the monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
Welwitschia
Welwitschia
Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gymnosperm plant, composed solely of the very distinct Welwitschia mirabilis. The plant is commonly simply known as Welwitschia in English. It is known locally as !kharos or khurub , tweeblaarkanniedood , nyanka , or onyanga , among others...
. This expedition was cut short by the first of the so-called Herero Wars. In 1907 he made a second attempt in the company of E. E. Galpin
Ernest Edward Galpin
Ernest Edward Galpin Ernest Edward Galpin Ernest Edward Galpin (born Grahamstown December 6, 1858 - October 16, 1941 Mosdene, Transvaal, was a South African botanist and banker. He left some 16,000 sheets to the National Herbarium in Pretoria and was dubbed "the Prince of Collectors" by General...
who had previously accompanied him on cycad
Encephalartos
Encephalartos is a genus of cycad native to Africa. Several species of Encephalartos are commonly referred to as bread palms, bread tree or Kaffir bread since a bread-like starchy food can be prepared from the centre of the stem. All the species of Encephalartos are endangered...
-hunting trips to the Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...
. His papers on the ecology, morphology and embryology of Welwitschia, led to a Cantabrigian
Cantabrigian
Cantabrigian is an adjective that is used in two meanings: 1) to refer to what is of or pertaining to the University of Cambridge or Harvard University, as both are located in towns named Cambridge ; or 2) to refer to what is of or pertaining to the locales of Cambridge, England and its namesake -...
DSc in 1907, which in turn led to a study of the closely related Gnetum
Gnetum
Gnetum is a genus of about 30-35 species of gymnosperms, the sole genus in the family Gnetaceae and order Gnetales. They are tropical evergreen trees, shrubs and lianas. Unlike other gymnosperms they possess vessel elements in the xylem...
, to which end he went on a collecting expedition to Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
in 1909. During this time he wrote an account of the Thymelaeaceae
Thymelaeaceae
Thymelaeaceae is a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera and 898 species. It was established in 1789 by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu.Thymelaeaceae is in the order Malvales...
for the Flora of Tropical Africa.
Living in Cape Town and keenly aware of the floristic wealth of the Cape Peninsula, Pearson had become an ardent campaigner for the establishing of a botanical garden. He made an impassioned appeal to the authorities and the public at his 1910 presidential address to the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. As a consequence the Botanical Society of South Africa was formed in 1912 and a deputation was despatched to make representations to the Prime Minister, Louis Botha
Louis Botha
Louis Botha was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state...
. The campaign found a powerful supporter in Sir Lionel Phillips
Lionel Phillips
Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet was a South African mining magnate and politician.-Early life:Phillips was born in London on 6 August 1855 to a family of lower middle-class merchants, who formed part of a growing group of Jews set to play a major role in the commerce and politics of...
, who introduced the necessary bill in the House of Assembly in 1913. An area which Cecil Rhodes had bequeathed to the public, was set aside and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden came into being. Pearson was appointed as the first director, with J. W. Matthews as curator.
On Pearson's death he was buried in Kirstenbosch, his epitaph reading "If ye seek his monument, look around". He is commemorated in the genus Pearsonia
Pearsonia
Pearsonia is an African plant genus of some 12 species belonging to the family Fabaceae and occurring south of the equator with 1 species found on Madagascar....
and several specific epithets. The 1914 volume 140 of Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name Curtis's Botanical Magazine....
is dedicated to his memory. The Harold Pearson Chair of Botany at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
was founded in his honour, and the HW Pearson Building (home of the Botany Department) is named after him. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation H.Pearson when citing
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
.
Honours, degrees & achievements
Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
Cantab.
Cantabrigian
Cantabrigian is an adjective that is used in two meanings: 1) to refer to what is of or pertaining to the University of Cambridge or Harvard University, as both are located in towns named Cambridge ; or 2) to refer to what is of or pertaining to the locales of Cambridge, England and its namesake -...
1896, DSc
DSC
-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...
1907, Fellow of the Royal Society 1916, Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
1901, Assistant Curator Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
Herbarium 1898-99, Kew Herbarium 1899, Professor of Botany at South African College
South African College
The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools .-History:...
in Cape Town 1903, Director of Cape Botanical Gardens 1913.