In Memoriam : William Foggitt, J. P., F.L.S. 205 



for he was ever an inveterate smoker and enjoyed the cup the 

 contents of which he was fond of describing as worse than 

 intoxicants — his picturesque and copious flow of language 

 gave expression to his views on things in general, and upon 

 various questions of Church and State in particular. He was 

 a Churchman and a Conservative of the views congenial to the 

 famed squire of Blankney. 



His wife survives him, also a daughter and four sons, in 

 whom are repeated some of the paternal characteristics. All 

 have the love of country life, and the artistic and other attain- 

 ments rind repetition. The second son, Cecil, was at one time 

 Hon. Secretary of the Leeds Naturalists' Club, and the eldest 

 shares his father's taste for heraldry. The younger sons are 

 on active service abroad, Geoffrey in France, Noel with the 

 Indian Army in Mesopotamia with a commission in the cavalry, 

 for which his knowledge of Hindustani, acquired while five 

 years in Upper Assam, is a qualification. — R. 



WILLIAM FOGGITT, J.P., F.L.S. 

 1835— i9 T 7- 



There is perhaps no locality in the kingdom, probably not in 

 the world, which has produced so remarkable a cluster of able 

 botanists as North East Yorkshire, and especially that portion 

 of it known to politicians as the Thirsk and Malton Division. 

 In proof of this it is sufficient to cite such names as Spruce, 

 Ibbetson, Stabler, Massee, Slater, and more particularly John 

 Gilbert Baker, all of whom have made their mark in the develop- 

 ment of botanical research. 



Among these is William Foggitt, who has just passed away. 



While still at school he contrived during the leisure of 

 summer days to collect no fewer than 500 specimens of British 

 plants, which he pressed and catalogued. Leaving school at 

 13, during an apprenticeship to his father's business, he was 

 helped in the same direction by a close friendship formed with 

 a youth of similar tastes, John Gilbert Baker. Their joint 

 rambles resulted in the formation of a very fine herbarium, and 

 they co-operated in forming the first Natural History Society 

 in Thirsk. For some time William Foggitt gave weekly 

 botanical lessons at Thirsk High School, and took walks into 

 the country with the scholars, where growing specimens were 

 described to them. He possessed a delightful fund of humour, 

 and his reminiscences of the many and varied experiences 

 when botanising in different parts of the country were a treat 

 to hear. 



In 1903 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnaean Society. 

 He was one of the Entomological Committee of the Yorkshire 



1917 June 1. 



