326 



post after leaving college was that of Sub-Curator of the Fielding 

 Herbarium at Oxford, to which he refers in an undated letter, 

 written from King's College, to Sir William Hooker, whose herba- 

 rium he was to examine in order to get some insight into its 

 arrangement before goin 7 to Oxford. In another undated letter, 

 written from the Oxford Botanic Gardens, he informs Sir W. 

 Hooker that he had been induced to offer himself as a candidate 

 for the Chair of Botany at King's College, vacant by the resigna- 

 tion of his former teacher, Professor Edward Forbes, and asks for 

 a testimonial •, adding that he had already delivered one course of 

 lectures on botany at the London Institution, and was then engaged 

 in delivering a similar course at the Royal Institution. Although 

 there are no dates to these letters, we know that they were written 

 when he was quite a young man, for in 1855 he was chosen 

 Lecturer on Botany at St. George's Hospital, a post which he held 

 until 1868. He was also for some years Examiner in Botany in 

 the University of London, for the Society of Apothecaries, and 

 for the Civil Service. On the death of Dr. J. Lindley in 1865, 

 Masters was appointed his successor as editor of the Gardeners' 1 

 Chronicle, in conjunction for many years with the late Thomas 

 Moore ; the duties of this post he performed up to within just a 

 month of his death. Apart from his editorial work, Masters wa- 

 a prolific writer, as may be learnt from the appended bibliography, 

 and most of his descriptive botany was done at Kew. As early as 

 1865 his name appears two or three days a week in the visitors' 

 book, when he was occupied on his first contributions to the 



ica and the. Flora nf Rriti&h Tndia. To 



■)/ Tropical A A 



a certain extent he was a specialist ; the Malvales, Passiflorales, 



Aristolochiaceae, Nepenthaceae, Restiaceae, and Con i ferae being 

 his favourite groups. 



Masters became a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1860, and in 

 1870 he was elected into the Royal Society. He was an M.D. and 

 a M.R.C.S., and he was also an Honorary or Corresponding member 

 of numerous societies, both English and Foreign. Foremost 

 among his foreign distinctions was that of Corresponding Member 

 of the Institute of France, to which he was elected in 18?*. In 

 the same year he was decorated with the insignia of Chevalier 

 of the Belgian Order of Leopold. 



He was an indefatigable worker ; a strong supporter of Kew, 

 the Royal Horticultural Society and the Gardeners' Societies and 

 Institutions. How much he was esteemed and admired may be 

 gathered from the numerous highly sympathetic and eulogistic 

 sketches of his life and work Avhich have appeared in the horti- 

 cultural and botanical press of the world ; and many of us have 

 lost a good kind friend. 



Mrs. Masters has presented most of her husband's Botanical 

 collections to Kew, with permission to select what is required 

 ana to send the remainder to Oxford. There has not yet been 

 time to examine them, but the Coniferae evidently form the 

 greater and the most valuable part. We are informed that his 

 Herbarium of British Plants, in accordance with the deceased's 

 wish, has been presented to his native city Canterbury. 



