LINXEAW SOCIETY OF LO^DO:<. \XY 



of March, 1835. He was the eldest son of George Tate, F.G.S., 

 author of ' The History of Alnwick.' When quite a boy, he en- 

 tered, with interest, into his father's scientific pursuits, more espe- 

 cially in the branches of botany and conchology ; and his know- 

 ledge of the flora of his native county was, even from an early 

 age, remarkable and extensive. 



In 1850 he entered the University of Edinburgh as a stu- 

 dent of medicine. He gained the gold medal for botany in 

 1853, and in 1855 passed his examination for a surgeon's degree. 

 He was at that time fully prepared for the examination for 

 M.D., but being only 19 years old, he had to wait awhile; 

 meantime he obtained the appointment of House-Surgeon to 

 the Alnwick Infirmary, which he retained till 1858. In the 

 interim he had taken his degree of M.D., and in March 1858 

 joined the Army as Assistant Surgeon in the Royal Artillery. 

 He was stationed at Hong-Kong for two years : and while there 

 he, with some other officers, went on an excursion of some 

 months into the interior of the country, and made a collection 

 of plants in the province of Shantung, the botany of which is 

 comparatively unknown. This collection, comprising about 800 

 specimens, is now in the Royal Herbarium at Kew. On his 

 return to England he was stationed in the Isle of "Wight for 

 some years. He married, August 2nd, 1866, Miss "Way, eldest 

 daughter of David Way, Esq. Mrs. Tate was almost as enthusi- 

 astic a botanist as himself, and accompanied her husband in all 

 his researches and wanderings after plants. He succeeded in 

 discovering a few new plants in the Isle of Wight (communicated 

 to, and published by Mr. A. G-. More in his ' Supplement to 

 Bromfield's Flora Vectensis '). 



In the autumn of 1868, while stationed for a few weeks at Gos- 

 port, Dr. Tate caught a severe cold which brought on a disease 

 that quite invalided him and rendered him unfit for active 

 duty. He therefore was placed on permanent half-pay, and re- 

 turned to the Isle of Wight. Erom thence he moved to Torquay ; 

 but the climate proved unsuitable to him, and in the summer of 

 1872 he found a pleasant country home at Fareham in Hampshire. 

 But his health slowly declined ; and on September 14, 1873, he 

 bad an attack of paralysis from which he never recovered. 



For six years before, his death failing health had precluded 

 much literary labour. In 1867 he published, in conjunction with 

 Mr. J. G. Baker, F.L.S., Assistant Curator of the Herbarium 



