George Simonds Boulger (1853–1922) was an English

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. Boulger wrote articles as the

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

Correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', and other works on botany and natural history.

Life

George Boulger was born at

Bletchingly Bletchingly (1970–1993) was an Australian Thoroughbred horse, racehorse and stallion. A brilliant sprinter, he was by the successful speed stallion Biscay (horse), Biscay out of Coogee (GB) (by Relic (USA)). Bletchingly was bred by Stanley Wo ...

, Surrey, the son of Edward Boulger MD. He was a cousin of the sculptor,

George Blackall Simonds George Blackall Simonds (6 October 1843 – 16 December 1929) was an English sculptor and a director of H & G Simonds Brewery in Reading, Berkshire. Biography George was the second son of George Simonds Senior, of Reading, director of H & G ...

. He was educated at Wellington College and

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a benevolent institution which provided a boarding school education for sons of poor or deceased members ...

and the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

. At the age of 23 he became Professor of Natural History at the

Royal Agricultural College The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. ...

, Cirencester, and after holding the chair for 30 years he was appointed Honorary Professor. He had also been Lecturer on Botany and Geology at the

City of London College London Guildhall University was a university in the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2002, established when the City of London Polytechnic was awarded university status. On 1 August 2002, it merged with the University of North London to form Londo ...

, since 1884, and at the

Imperial Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

since 1917. Professor Boulger was an active member of public associations for natural history and botany, the

Selborne Society The Selborne Society or Selborne League is Britain's oldest national conservation organization and a registered charity. It was formed in November 1885 to "perpetuate the name and interests of Gilbert White, the Naturalist of Selborne", and follo ...

, the Essex Field Club, the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies. He died in Richmond, Surrey on 4 May 1922.

Works

Boulger's works were published in many editions, these were: ''The Uses of Plants'' (1889)'','' ''Familiar Trees,'' ''Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists'' (with

James Britten James Britten (3 May 1846 – 8 October 1924) was an English botanist. Biography Born in Chelsea, London, he moved to High Wycombe in 1865 to begin a medical career. However he became increasingly interested in botany, and began writing papers ...

), ''The Country Month by Month:'' (with Jean Allan Owen), ''Elementary Geology,'' ''Flowers of the Field,'' ''Flowers of the Wood,'' ''Botany,'' ''Plant Geography,'' ''British Flowering Plants'' (with Mrs. Henry Perrin), and ''Wood'' (1902). ''The Uses of Plants'' talks about commercial uses of plants in fields such as food production and medicine, ''Wood'' discusses about the characteristics and many uses of wood, describing and illustrating various classification and durability of many different types of timber。

Family

Boulger married Dorothy Havers in 1879, the daughter of Thomas Havers, of Thelton Hall,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. She wrote over fifteen novels and several novellas between 1874 and 1903 under the pen name "Theo. Gift," including some stories for girls.''

'', Friday, May 05, 1922; Issue 43023; pg. 18; col C — "The Times" Botanist. Death Of Professor G. S. Boulger.

References

;attribution: adapted from ''Times'' obit., unknown contributor {{DEFAULTSORT:Boulger, George Simonds English botanists The Times people English botanical writers 1853 births 1922 deaths Fellows of the Linnean Society of London