2 LIFE OF FLOWER 



mother's family, but appears to have been an "idio- 

 pathic " development. His isolated position in this 

 respect may, perhaps, have caused Flower in later life 

 to notice more specially than might otherwise have been 

 the case, how comparatively rare is the development 

 of an ingrained taste for natural history among the 

 adult members of the British nation. This idea was 

 exemplified by his remarking on one occasion to the 

 present writer that he often wondered how many 

 persons out of every thousand he passed casually in the 

 street, or met in social intercourse, had the slightest 

 sympathy with, or took any real interest in the subjects 

 which formed his own favourite pursuits and lines 

 of thought. 



As regards his parentage, his father was the late 

 Edward Fordham Flower, who was a Justice of the 

 Peace for his county, and from whom the son inherited 

 his tall and stately figure and dignified bearing. Edward 

 Flower, who was a partner in the well-known brewery 

 at Stratford-on-Avon, was the eldest son of Richard 

 Flower, of Marden Hill, Hertfordshire, who married 

 Elizabeth, daughter of John Fordham, of Sandon Bury, 

 in the same county. In 1827 Edward married Celina, 

 daughter of John Greaves, of Radford Semele, Warwick- 

 shire, by whom he had, with other issue, Charles 

 Edward, late of Glencassly, Sutherlandshire, and William 

 Henry, the subject of the present memoir. 



Edward Fordham Flower was noted not only for his 

 philanthropy, but for his efforts to abolish the bearing- 

 rein, which in his time was neither more nor less than 

 an instrument of downright torture to all carriage 

 horses. As the result of his efforts in this direction, 



