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OBITUAEY. 



EoBEKT Beaithwaite, M.D. M.R.C.S. F.L.S. F.E.M.S. 



May 20, 1824— October 20, 1917. 



It is with much regret we have to announce the death of 

 Dr. Braithwaite, in his ninety-fourth year ; he was the eldest son 

 of Robert Braithwaite, shipowner, of Ruswarp, near Whitby, where 

 he was born in 1824. He was educated at the Grammar School at 

 Whitby, and afterwards studied medicine, becoming M.R.C.S. in 

 1858, and M.D. of St. Andrews in 1865. He married the daughter 

 of Dr. N. B. Ward, F.R.S., the inventor of the Wardian Case, and 

 a botanist of repute, who was then practising at Clapham. Dr. 

 Braithwaite succeeded to the practice, which he carried on for many 

 years in Ward's old house, " The Ferns," 303 Clapham Road. His 

 leisure time was devoted to the study of the moss-flora of his 

 country and of Europe generally, and in this subject he became the 

 greatest authority. 



He joined this Society in 1866, and served as President in the 

 years 1891 and 1892. Dr. Braithwaite joined the Linnean Society 

 in February, 1863, and was one of the longest-standing members. 

 He served on the Council, 1872-74 and 1889-92, and was a Vice- 

 President, 1889-91. 



Dr. Braithwaite was President of the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club in the years 1872-4, having joined the Club in the year of its 

 foundation, 1865. 



Dr. Braithwaite's magnum opus, " The British Moss Flora," the 

 publication of which was completed in 1905, in three large octavo 

 volumes, constitutes the standard work upon this subject. The 

 128 plates were all engraved from drawings made by the author, 

 and the whole work forms a remarkable monument of his great 

 skill and industry. In addition, Dr. Braithwaite published a 

 monograph on the peat-mosses, "The Sphagnacese, or Peat-mosses 

 of Europe and North America." 



His Herbarium of British Mosses, which is authoritative for 

 his work on the moss-flora, was purchased a few years ago by the 

 Trustees of the British Museum, and is available for consultation in 

 the Department of Botany. Dr. Braithwaite's large collection of 

 •separato relating to the Musci is now in the Library of this Society, 

 in ten volumes, and is indexed in the First Supplement (1910) to- 

 the Library Catalogue. 



A. W. Sheppard. 



