Paul Egerton Weatherley (1917–2001) was a British botanist. In authorship he is usually known as P. E. Weatherley.

Life

He was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

on 6 May 1917, the son of Leonard Roger Weatherley and his wife, Ethel Maude Collin. He was educated at

Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys was a grammar school in Leicester, England, in existence from 1876 to 1976. It was succeeded by the present-day Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College. History After William Wyggeston's death in 1536, his bro ...

. He won a scholarship to

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

studying Botany under A. G. Tansley and graduated MA in 1939. He then won a further scholarship from the Colonial Office to study tropical agriculture, gaining a doctorate in 1942 and then being posted to Africa as Government Botanist to the Department of Agriculture in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. His journey to Uganda was extremely eventful as his ship was sunk by a

German U-boat U-boats are naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the First and Second World Wars. The term is an anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the German term refers to any submarine. Austro-Hungarian Nav ...

off the coast of Africa and he spent 18 hours in a lifeboat before being rescued.Scotsman (newspaper) 13 September 2001 He stayed in Uganda until 1947 when he returned to lecture at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. In 1949 he went to the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

being promoted to senior lecturer in 1956. In 1959 he was made Professor of Botany at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. Whilst there he became a member of the Cairngorm Club and was an elder at

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church (building), church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a Kirk ...

. In 1960 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

James Robert Matthews James Robert Matthews FRSE FLS CBE LLD (1889–1978) was a Scottish botanist. He was president of the British Ecological Society in 1934 and president of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh 1939 to 1942. Life He was born in the village of Dunni ...

, Robert Brown, Harold Fletcher and

Brian Burtt Brian Laurence "Bill" Burtt FRSE FLS (27 August 1913 – 30 May 2008), was an English botanist and taxonomist who is noted for his contributions to the family Gesneriaceae. In a career that spanned 74 years, he worked first at the Royal Botani ...

. He was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

in 1973. He retired to

Torphins Torphins ( ; ) is a village in River Dee, Aberdeenshire, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland which lies about west of Aberdeen. It is situated on the A980 road, A980, about north-west of Banchory, and was once served by the Great North of ...

in 1981. Sadly he developed

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. He died in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

on 8 August 2001.

Family

In 1943 he married Margaret Logan Pirie. They had three daughters and a son.

Publications

*'' A Porometer for use in the Field'' (1966) *''Some Aspects of the Munch Hypothesis'' (1975) *''Hydraulic Resistance of the Soil-Root Interface'' (1979) *''Root Contraction in Transpiring Plants'' (1982) *''Water Uptake and Flow in Roots'' (1982)

References

1917 births 2001 deaths Scientists from Leicester Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Aberdeen British botanists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Linnean Society of London People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys People from Torphins {{UK-bio-stub