Arthur Wallis Exell

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(21 May 1901 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

– 15 January 1993 in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

) was initially an assistant and later Deputy Keeper of Botany at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

during the years 1924–1939 and 1950–1962. A noted

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gen ...

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

and

phytogeographer Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

, he was notable for his furthering of botanical exploration in tropical and sub-tropical Africa, and was an authority on the family

Combretaceae The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, G ...

. Exell's formal education started at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, and then King Edmund's School in Birmingham. From there he went on to

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

and was awarded an M.A. in 1926, having joined the British Museum as a second-class assistant on 11 August 1924, eventually becoming Deputy Keeper of Botany in 1950. He was entrusted with the

Polypetalae Polypetalae was a taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a ...

, although his first paper was a morphological study of the

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

in three species of fungus. Exell's first contact with Africa was in 1932/3 when he travelled to the islands in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

–

São Tomé and Principe SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

Bioko Bioko (; ; ; historically known as Fernando Pó, ) is an island of Equatorial Guinea. It is located south of the coast of Cameroon, and northwest of the northernmost part of mainland Equatorial Guinea. Malabo, on the north coast of the is ...

and

Annobón Annobón (; ) is a province of Equatorial Guinea. The province consists of the island of Annobón and its associated islets in the Gulf of Guinea. Annobón is the smallest province of Equatorial Guinea in both area and population. According t ...

. His reports on the expedition were published in 1944 as a ''"Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of S. Tome"'', which for many years served as the standard reference to the islands' flora. The expedition also acquainted Exell with the Portuguese botanists Luis Carrisso and Francisco de Ascensão Mendonça of Coimbra University. Accompanied by them and his wife, Exell launched into a study of the flora of

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, at that time a Portuguese colony. Also in their group was John Gossweiler (1873–1952), the government botanist in Angola. During the journey Carrisso suffered a fatal heart attack. Exell continued his collaboration with Coimbra University and Mendonça, publishing the first volume of the ''"Conspectus Florae Angolensis"'' (1937–1951). During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Exell's knowledge of Portuguese – he was also fluent in French and German – led to his being seconded to the Government Communications Headquarters at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

, and working as a cryptographer in Cheltenham. Returning to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1950, he founded the 'Association pour l'Etude Taxonomique de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale' (AETFAT) and started the ''

Flora Zambesiaca ''Flora Zambesiaca'' is an ongoing botanical project aimed at achieving a full account of the flowering plants and ferns of the Zambezi River basin covering Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the Caprivi Strip, and is published by ...

'' project, the flora covering the catchment area of the

Zambesi River The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the List of rivers by length, fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , sli ...

, which at the time comprised the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...

, Bechuanaland, the

Caprivi strip The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is bordered by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a sing ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. He visited the region in 1955 with Mendonça to make further collections. He was co-editor of ''Flora Zambesiaca'' from 1962 onwards, and was awarded a D.Sc. by the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

in Portugal in 1962. In 1971 the Portuguese government conferred on him the 'Comendador Da Ordem De Santiago da Espada'. He also received the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1961, and was a member of the

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

and other scientific societies. Exell left the British Museum as Deputy Keeper of Botany in 1962. While

remote work Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of work (human activity), working at or from one's home or Third place, another space rather than from ...

ing, he carried out part-time work for the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. On his retirement, he and his wife moved to the village of

Blockley Blockley is a village, Civil parish#United Kingdom, civil parish and Parish, ecclesiastical parish in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh. Until 1931 Blockley was an Encl ...

in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

, becoming involved in local affairs.

Associates

* Mendonça, Francisco de Ascencão (1889–1982) (co-collector) * Wild, Hiram (1917–1982) (co-collector) * Gossweiler, John (1873–1952) (co-collector) * Carrisso, Luis Wettnich (1886–1937)

Family

Arthur and his brothers Maurice Herbert Exell (1905–1966) and Ernest George Exell (1907–1986) were the sons of William Wallis Exell (1868 Ballarat, Victoria, Australia – 1938 Amersham, Buckinghamshire) and Jessie Clara Holmes (1869–1956). Arthur married Mildred Alice Haydon (25 January 1905 Wandsworth, London – August 1990 North Cotswolds, Gloucestershire) on 14 August 1929 at Wandsworth, Surrey. William Wallis Exell's parents were George Exell (1834–1921) and Sarah Wallis (1844–1909).

Eponymy

Numerous taxa were named in his honour *'' Exellia'' Boutique in

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

*''Barleria exellii'' Benoist *''Hermbstaedtia exellii'' (Suess.) C.C.Towns. *''Anisophyllea exellii'' P.A.Duvign. & Dewit *''Piptostigma exellii'' R.E.Fr. *''Anthericum exellii'' Poelln. *''Marsdenia exellii'' C.Norman *''Anisopappus exellii'' Wild *''Impatiens exellii'' G.M.Schulze *''Combretum exellii'' Jongkind *''Kalanchoe exellii'' Raym.-Hamet *''Geranium exellii'' J.R.Laundon *''Perlebia exellii'' (Torre & Hillc.) A.Schmitz *''Phragmanthera exellii'' Balle ex Polhill & Wiens *''Hibiscus exellii'' Baker f. *''Memecylon exellii'' A.Fern. & R.Fern. *''Tridactyle exellii'' P.J.Cribb & Stévart *''Pavetta exellii'' Bremek. *''Psychotria exellii'' R.Alves, Figueiredo & A.P.Davis *''Sabicea exellii'' G.Taylor

Publications

*''Mr. John Gossweiler's Plants from Angola and Portuguese Congo, 1926–1929'' (Jl. of Bot., Suppl.) *''Two new species of Terminalia from the Austral Islands and Mangareva'' (1936) *''Parmi d'autres auteurs Conspectus Florae Angolensis'' (1937) *''Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of S. Tome (with Principe and Annobon)'' (1944) *''A Revision of the Genera

Buchenavia ''Buchenavia'' is a genus of plant in family Combretaceae. It contains the following species (but this list may be incomplete): * ''Buchenavia grandis'', Ducke * ''Buchenavia hoehneana'', N. Mattos * ''Buchenavia iguaratensis'', N. Mattos * ''Buc ...

and Ramatuella'' (Bulletin of the British Museum) – with Clive Anthony Stace (1963) *''Joanna Southcott at Blockley and the Rock Cottage Relics'' (1977) * *''History of the Ladybird: With some Diversions on This and That'' (1989) *''Old Photographs of Blockley, Chipping Campden, Chipping Norton and Moreton in Marsh'' – Arthur Wallis Exell (1983)
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References

External links