i ea a 
Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. XII NOVEMBER, 1924 No. 9 
HENRY SHAW? 
Like most of the world’s benefactors, Henry Shaw has 
left scanty material for the biographer. A life prolonged 
far beyond the ordinary term, and full of active effort al- 
most from beginning to end, was singularly uneventful— 
‘Keeping the noiseless tenor of its way’’ from birth to 
death with little to break, nothing to seriously disturb, its 
even current. He was a public man only through his labors 
for the public good. He held no office of any kind, was 
never a prominent figure in state or municipal affairs, and 
by choice as well as natural temperament was essentially a 
private citizen. Even when his benefactions had made him 
famous abroad as well as at home, he remained the same 
modest and retiring gentleman; seeking no honor, caring 
for no praise—anxious only that his works should live and 
speak for him when he had gone. And his life was so com- 
pletely identified and blended with these works, that they 
will ever be the best and all-sufficient biography of him. 
Henry Shaw was born in Sheffield, England, July 24, 1800. 
His father, Joseph Shaw, was a native of Leicester, but re- 
moved to Sheffield at a very early age. The mother, Sarah 
Hoole, whom he most resembled in disposition, was a native 
of that city. Henry was the oldest of four children. One 
son died in infancy, and two daughters are still living: Miss 
1 Because of numerous requests for a life of Henry Shaw, the 
following biographical sketch prepared by Mr. Thomas Dimmock 
is reprinted from the First Annual Report of the Garden, published 
in 1890. 
(107) 
