In Memory of Charles P. Hobkirk. 107 



characterised its proceeding-s. Mr. Hobkirk was a member of 

 the Executive throui^hout, down to the very year of his ilhiess, 

 and in 1892 the Union showed its g-rateful appreciation of his 

 services by making- him President. The history of the Union 

 formed the subject of his address, delivered at Huddersfield in 

 his absence from iUness. 



A botanist throughout his life, he was a bryologist by 

 specialist preference, and it was as a student of the mosses 

 that he made his mark in science. 



In 1873 he published his 'Synopsis of the British Mosses,' 

 a handy volume giving- brief terse descriptions of all the 

 g-enera and species found in Great Britain and Ireland, a little 

 work of which a second edition appeared in 1884, and which has 

 proved useful to many a young- student who needed a useful 

 stepping--stone to the more advanced and technical works of 

 Schimper and Braithwaite. 



The same year (1873) he read a paper to the British Associa- 

 tion at Bradford on ' The Mosses of the West Riding- of York- 

 shire,' which was afterwards printed in ' The Journal of Botany,' 

 following- it up in 1879 and 18S0 with additional records. 



In 1877 he compiled, along- with Henry Boswell of Oxford, 

 the first 'London Catalog-ue of British Mosses,' and this reached 

 its second edition in 1881, both published for the Botanical 

 Locality Record Club. 



Mr. Hobkirk's intellectual activity took other forms. He 

 was the first to prepare and have printed a River-Drainage Map 

 of the West Riding for scientific purposes in 1872, and he also 

 interested himself in evolutionary problems, moot points of vege- 

 table physiology, the preservation of our native plants, and other 

 like topics. He even essayed in pure literature, writing in 

 1881-82 a novel which was published in 'The Huddersfield Weekly 

 News,' the title being ' Sir John de Eland, Knight, a Legend of 

 the 14th Century,' and his nom-de-plume ' H. P. Carlton.' 



Appreciation of his worth was not wanting. Not only was 

 much tacit and spoken confidence reposed in him, both in 

 business, scientific, and private life, but on each of the two 

 occasions on which he changed his place of residence he was 

 presented with silver plate and an illuminated address, on leaving 

 Huddersfield in October 1884 and Dewsbury in December 1892. 



He was married at Huddersfield on the 5th of August 1863, 

 and his wife, after a long and painful illness, died before him. 

 He lost his youngest son unexpectedly about a month or two 

 before his own decease. 



1903 April 1. 



