LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 45 



report of the Thirsk Botanical Exchange Club for 18G5, where 

 ■will be found an interesting comparison of Viola 2^^^'inia;ta with 

 V. odorata, also an account of Galium vero-elatum with G. elato- 

 veriim, and a comparison of Thymus Serpyllum with T. Chama'drys. 

 He was made a J. P. some years ago, and was an ardent Wesleyan, 

 and Circuit Steward of the Thirsk Circuit. He died May 10, 

 1917, at the age of 82. and was interred in the Thirsk Cemetery. 



[E. G. Bakee.] 



LoED Redesdale. — It is with sincere regret that we record the 

 death of Lord Eedesdale, G.C.V.O., K.C.B., in his eightieth year. 

 Elected a Eellow of the Society on the 5th November, 1896, he 

 brought with him a varied experience gained in diplomacy, foreign 

 travel and administrative service, which, combined with singular 

 personal charm and remarkably good looks, rendered him a notable 

 and popular figui'e in English society. 



Born on the 24th February, 1837, Algernon Berti\am Mitford 

 w-as the son of Henry Eeveley Mitford, of Exbiiry, by his wife 

 Lady Georgina, fourth daughter of the third Earl of Ashburn- 

 ham. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, he entered the Foreign 

 Office in 1858 and was attached to the Embassy at St. Petersburg 

 in 1863. In 1865 he was attached to the Legation at Peking, 

 whence he was transferred in the following year to that at 

 Yokohama under Sir Henry Parkes. In Japan, as he had pre- 

 viously done in Eussia and China, he applied himself to study of 

 the language, and acquired such mastery of it that, when the 

 Duke of Edinburgh visited Japan in 1868, Mitford acted officially 

 as his interpreter. He was, indeed, one of the most accomplished 

 linguists of his time. Returning to England in 1870, he retired 

 from the diplomatic service in 1873, and in the following year Mr. 

 Disraeli appointed him Secretary to H.M. Office of Works. It is 

 to his influence in that sphere that we owe the progressive adorn- 

 ment of the royal and public parks of London, now temporarily 

 arrested during the great war. 



Mitford's duties in his new capacity brought him into close 

 relation uith the late Sir Joseph Hooker, who was then Director 

 of Kew Gardens, and by whom he was speedily imbued with an 

 ardent interest in horticulture, which continued as his ruling 

 passion till the end of his life. 



The opportunity for indulging that passion, untrammelled by 

 official duties, came to Mitford in 1886 on the death of his cousin, 

 the second Earl of Redesdale, through which he succeeded to 

 Batsford and the other estates. Being then in his fiftiet-h year, 

 he resigned his appointment at the Office of Works, took up his 

 abode at Batsford, on the outskirts of the Cotswolds, where he 

 built a large and beautiful mansion-house, and created, at immense 

 labour and expense, a very remarkable garden. Through a feature- 

 less hill-side facing the house he caused a long and deep ravine to 

 be excavated ; water was brought through pipes from a consider- 

 able distance to form a rivulet to course through the ravine, 



