Eleanor Vachell (1879–1948) was a British botanist who is remembered especially for her work identifying and studying the flora of

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

and her connection with the

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where she was the first woman to be a member of its Council and Court of Governors. The museum now holds her botanical diary, notes, books, records and specimens.

Early life

She was the eldest child of Winifred and Charles Tanfield Vachell, a physician in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

where she was born on 8 January 1879, followed in the 1890s by her brother Eustace and sister Sylvia. She went to school in Cardiff, Malvern, and

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. Her father was a keen amateur botanist, and from childhood she went with him on botanical trips across the UK and Ireland as well as in Brittany, Norway and Switzerland. She started keeping a botanical diary when she was twelve and used it throughout her life to record expeditions and finds. Her ambition was to see ''

in situ is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...

'' every plant recognised as a British species and she ticked off her finds by colouring illustrations in a reference book. This eventually led to her building up an almost unrivalled knowledge of UK and Irish plants in their native habitats.H.A.Hyde, 'Obituaries: Miss Eleanor Vachell', in ''Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London'', Volume 161, Issue 2,, p252, December 1949
It is believed she saw all but thirteen species during her life.

Botanical interests

From 1903 Vachell was the honorary secretary of a committee preparing the first volume of the ''Flora of Glamorgan''. The editor A. H. Trow, was Professor of Botany at

University College, Cardiff Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

from 1905 to 1919, and he offered encouragement to her in her botanical work. As well as contributing to that volume and acting as Recorder for continuing plant-finding in Glamorgan, she contributed extensively to the '' Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society'' where she was the first woman elected to membership of their Biological and Geological Section'Obituary: Eleanor Vachell, F.L.S., 1878–1948', ''Reports and transactions (Cardiff Naturalists' Society), 1900–1981'', Vol. LXXX 1948–1950
/ref> and, in 1936-7, was the society's first woman president. She was elected a Fellow of the

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in 1917. She belonged to the Wild Flower Society and the Botanical Exchange Club and went on plant-hunting trips with friends who were also members, including Gertrude Foggitt and Joanna Charlotte Davy. Like them, she had a private income. Her companions and their travels together are described in Vachell's diary. In 1926 she was asked by the

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to investigate a report of the Ghost Orchid. This is one of Britain's rarest plants and for many years the Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales) had only a small rhizome that had been gathered by Vachell on 29 May 1926.Ghost orchids – a fleeting occurrence in dark, shaded woods
3 July 2013, Museum of Wales. Retrieved 21 August 2016 In the 1930s she discovered the hybrid ''Limosella aquatica x subulata'' with Dr Kathleen B. Blackburn. Every week from 1921 to 1948 she contributed a column on wild flowers to the '' Western Mail'' and in the 1920s she broadcast talks on wild flowers on

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radio.

Other activities

During both world wars she suspended her botanical interests to do voluntary work. She was said to be a "keen churchwoman" and was active in the

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where she became a Commandant and then a Vice-President. In

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she was a VAD at a military hospital, the 3rd Western General Hospital in Cardiff. In the Second World War she acted as deputy chairman of the

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for Glamorgan and was its visiting representative. She also took charge of the library at the

Rookwood Hospital Rookwood Hospital () was a rehabilitation hospital situated in Llandaff, in the city of Cardiff in South Wales. It was managed by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. History Rookwood was built for Colonel Sir Edward Hill in 1886; he, an ...

, Llandaff.

Legacy

She died on 6 December 1948. One of her obituarists, H. A. Hyde, keeper of botany at the National Museum of Wales, said she gave much help and encouragement to younger botanists and shared her expertise generously. She left a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

she had assembled along with her father to the National Museum of Wales, to be called the C. T. & E. Vachell herbarium. She also left her diary, books, records, notes and £500 for the upkeep of her bequest. Her will specified an additional £500 "to form a fund to assist amateur botanical research" and the expenses of publishing a future "''Flora of Glamorgan''" making use of her manuscripts. In 2012 she was one of thirteen women featured in an exhibition called ''"Inspirational Botanists – Women of Wales"'' at the

National Botanic Garden of Wales The National Botanic Garden of Wales () is a botanical garden located in Llanarthney in the River Tywi valley, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The garden is both a visitor attraction and a centre for botanical research and conservation, and features t ...

. The standard author abbreviation Vachell is used to indicate her as the author when citing a botanical name.

Bibliography

* ''The leek: the national emblem of Wale''s, William Lewis 1922 * 'Meeting of some of the Botanical Society of the British Isles in Glamorgan, 1927, with Botanical excursion in Somerset', with W.D. Miller, ''Report of the Botanical Exchange Club'', 1927, pp. 456–459 * 'A list of Glamorgan plants', ''Report of the Botanical Exchange Club'', 1933, pp. 686–743 *'Glamorgan flowering plants and ferns', in ''Glamorgan County History, vol 1 – Natural History'', William Lewis 1936, pp123–178 * 'Botanical notes and Limosella plants of Glamorgan', ''Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society'', vol. 71, 1938, pp. 29–35
'The Limosella plants of Glamorgan', ''Journal of Botany'', 1939, pp65-71
* Michelle Forty, Tim Rich eds., ''The botanical diary of Eleanor Vachell (1879–1948)'', National Museum of Wales, 2005

Notes

References

External links

'The Ghost Orchid: one of Britain's rarest plants' (Vachell's account of how a fragment of ghost orchid was discovered).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vachell, Eleanor 1879 births 1948 deaths Welsh botanists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Scientists from Cardiff Women botanists Welsh women scientists 20th-century Welsh women scientists 20th-century Welsh scientists