Louisa Lane Clarke (; 1812 – 8 November 1883) was a British botanist and

travel writer The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered ...

, best known for her

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view subjects too small to be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical mic ...

work on plants.

Biography

Louisa Lane was born in 1812 in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, the eldest daughter of Ambrose Lane and Elizabeth Lane, ''née'' Le Mesurier. On 14 September 1841, Lane married the Revd. Thomas Clarke ( – 1864), Rector of

Woodeaton Woodeaton or Wood Eaton is a village and civil parish about northeast of Oxford, England. It also has a special needs school called Woodeaton Manor School. Archaeology There was a Romano-Celtic temple north of where the parish church now stan ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. They then relocated to

East Bergholt East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include E ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. Clarke wrote numerous travel guides. She is best known for her later

botanical 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 ...

work popularizing microscopy. Her husband died in 1864 and she relocated to

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

with her daughter,

Theodora Theodora may refer to: * Theodora (given name), a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift" Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodo ...

, by the following year. Clarke died in L'Hyvreuse,

Saint Peter Port St. Peter Port () is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. Peter Port is a small tow ...

Selected works

Travel guides

* ''Recollections and Legends of Serk'' * ''Redstone's Guernsey Guide'' * ''The Country Parson's Wife'' * ''The New Parish Church of St. Ann'' (1850) * ''The Island of Alderney''

Scientific works

* ''The Microscope: Being a Popular Description of the Most Instructive and Beautiful Subjects for Exhibition'' was published in successive editions into the 1880s. * ''The Common Seaweeds of the British Coast and Channel Islands; with Some Insight into the Microscopic Beauties of Their Structure and Fructification''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Louisa Lane 1812 births 1883 deaths Writers from the Channel Islands People from East Bergholt English botanical writers English botanists British women botanists British women travel writers English travel writers Writers from Suffolk Place of death missing Date of birth missing 19th-century English women writers