3t>2 In Memoriam : Robert Braithwaite. 



He was the eldest son of Robert Braithwaite, a Whitby 

 shipowner, but he did not remain long in his native county. 



He studied for the medical profession, which he entered in 

 1858, taking his M.R.C.S.Eng. and L.S.A. qualifications in 

 that year after study at University College, London. He 

 took his M.D. degree at the University of St. Andrews in 1865, 

 and his professional career was spent in. the Metropolis, in the 

 Clapham district. 



He was a devoted student of the mosses, upon which he 

 became one of the greatest authorities. In 1880, he produced 

 a most important monograph of the Sphagnacese, or Peat- 

 mosses of Europe and North America, with 29 coloured plates 

 from his own drawings. 



But in 1879 he commenced, and in 1905 completed, his 

 great work, ' The British Moss-Flora,' which extended to three 

 volumes — a truly monumental production — full and detailed 

 in every respect, and illustrated by a series of fine plates from 

 the author's own drawings and dissections ; a work which 

 will stand for years to come as the indispensable companion 

 of every student of the British moss-flora, and which can never 

 be superseded. The fact that other manuals on the British 

 mosses have since appeared is but a further tribute to the 

 excellence of Braithwaite's work, upon which, of necessity, all 

 subsequent investigation must be based. 



Devoted as he was to the completion of his magnum opus, 

 there are not many smaller papers of his. The Royal Society's 

 Catalogue of Scientific Papers enumerates 17, all on bryological 

 subjects, published from 1868 to 1883 in The Journal of Botany, 

 Grevillea, Popular Science Review, Quekett Club Journal and 

 Monthly Microscopical Journal, those in the last-named 

 periodical constituting a series of papers on bog-mosses, during 

 the years 1871-5. To Trimen and Thiselton Dyer's Flora of 

 Middlesex he contributed the list of mosses. 



He was a Fellow, and attended Meetings, of various Societies 

 in London. He became a Fellow of the Linnean Society on 

 the 5th February, 1863, served as Vice-President in 1889-1891, 

 and on the Council, 1872-74. 



He was elected Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society 

 in i860 and was President for the year 1892, his address, the 

 subject of which was the ' Anatomy of Mosses,' being delivered 

 on the 18th January, 1893, and subsequently printed in the 

 J.R.M.S. for April, 1893, pp. 137-144. 



He also took an active interest in the affairs of the Quekett 

 Microscopical Club and in the Ray Society, in both of which 

 he served on the Council. He was elected member of the 

 Quekett Club on 27th October 1865, and was its President for 

 the years 1872 and 1873. 



He was President of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union for 



Naturalist 



