Ruth Mary Tristram (25 April 1886 – 22 October 1950) was a British amateur botanist. She was an expert on the genus ''

Plantago ''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...

''. She was one of the early women elected as a Fellow 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 ...

, being only 25 when she was honoured in 1911 with the fellowship. Tristram was also a member of the Wild Flower Society.

Life

Born Ruth Mary Cardew on 25 April 1886, Tristram married Major Guy H. Tristram (–1963) in 1919, and they had four children together. The Tristrams lived at the (now listed) Cox's Mill, Dallington. Tristram's son Launcelot died aged eight, and Tristram attempted to communicate with him by

automatic writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged sp ...

. Her son Christopher Guy (3 August 1925 – 1943) was killed when the ''Valaaren'' was sunk by

German submarine U-229 German submarine ''U-229'' was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 3 November 1941 at the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as yard number 659, launched on 20 Au ...

after leaving convoy HX231 (the "Crisis Convoy"). Her son David became a noted helleborist. Ruth Mary Tristram died on 22 October 1950.

Botany

Tristram was interested in botany from childhood, and came to the attention of other botanists in 1905 when she discovered an extended range for the flowering plant '' Holosteum umbellatum'' in Surrey, when it was thought to occur only in Suffolk and Norfolk. Tristram became an expert on ''

'' and was elected a fellow of the

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

on 7 December 1911, six years after the society first began admitting women. She was only twenty-five at the time of her election. She worked with E. G. Barker on ''Plantago'' with a plan to publish an account in for '' Cambridge British Flora''. They published several papers together. Tristram was also a member of the Wild Flower Society.

Works

Botanical

* With E. G. Baker: papers in ''Report of the Botanical Society'' and ''Journal of Botany''

Spiritual

* ''Letters from Lancelot'', Dallington, (1931), (aka ''Lancelot, etc. Letters received in automatic writing by R. M. T.'') consisting of automatic writings and other materials relating to her dead son Lancelot, and other matters. (Reprinted 1933, by Dunston.) * ''Letters from Christopher : Born August 3rd. 1925. Died at sea April 1943'' (1944) ** ''Christopher, etc. [Letters received in automatic writing by R.M.T.'' "by CHRISTOPHER" (1947) * ''A Book of Preparation for the Coming Light'' as R.M.T. (1951) * ''The Book of Comfort'' by R. M. Tristram (1957)

Bibliography

* J. W. Cardew and J. E. Lously, [Obituary] ''Ruth Mary Tristram'' in ''Watsonia (journal), Watsonia'' 2 (1951): 13

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tristram, Ruth Mary 1886 births 1950 deaths British botanists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London British spiritualists People from Rother District