396 FLORA OF OXFORDSHIRE. 
list, and in subsequent investigations, include Teesdalia, Polygala depressa, 
Hypericum calycinum, Alyssum calycinum, Melilotus alba, Arctium minus, 
Potamogeton junceus (flabellatus), P. rufescens, Cuscuta Trifolit and 
several Rose and Rubi. Mr. Beesley is fortunately still with us, but 
Geology has of late been the especial object of his studies, and the many 
valuable papers contributed by him to various scientific publications show 
an intimate acquaintance with that and other branches of science. He 
still retains a large herbarium and a very valuable collection of fossils, 
especially of Liassic and Oolitic strata. 
For some years he conducted the Science Classes with considerable 
success, one of his pupils being Alfred French, whose botanical zeal was 
fostered, if not formed, by the example and assistance of Mr. Beesley. 
Alfred French was born at Banbury in 1839. He was by trade a 
baker. In 1861 he attended Mr. Beesley’s class in Animal Physiology. 
In 1863 he took a first class in Inorganic, and a bronze medal in Organic 
Chemistry. In 1864 he commenced Botany, and gained a prize offered by 
Mr. Beesley, for a local collection of plants, and subsequently qualified as 
», teacher in Botany. Henceforwards he became an unwearied worker at 
the local flora, adding many species to the lists made by Gulliver and 
Beesley. The recent sub-division of many species, and the attention paid 
to critical plants afforded opportunities which French seized upon. In the 
study he was materially assisted by his friend Mr. E. Walford. In 1869 
and 1870 he conducted Botanical classes at Banbury with a fair amount 
of success. His manner as a teacher, though much marred by an indif- 
ferent accent, was earnest, and commanded the attention of his pupils, but 
the miserable pecuniary result was often a subject of complaint. 
About this time the establishment of co-operative stores caused the loss 
of much trade, and affairs looked so gloomy that he determined to sell his 
business and try other means of gaining a livelihood. He succeeded 
in obtaining two courses of instruction for Science teacher in London, 
where he endured grim poverty, and had many dark hours. A kind 
introduction to Mr. Carruthers of the British Museum, led to his being 
installed as attendant in the Botanical Department where he met with 
congenial employment and much kindness, from Mr. Carruthers and Dr. 
Trimen. Though ordinary menial work would have devolved upon the 
newest comer, it shows the estimation in which French was held, when 
we find he was exempted from it, and put to the work of herbarium 
arrangement and classification. For this consideration French was ex- 
tremely grateful. His holidays were spent in Oxfordshire, and on one of 
these occasions he found Salvia pratensis in the locality given in Sibthorp’s 
Flora, and afterwards contributed a paper on its distribution in Oxford- 
shire to the Journal of Botany. He gave a course of lectures on Botany 
at the Polytechnic Institution which were not very successful. His health 
began to give way and for two years he was subject to epileptic attacks, to 
one of which he succumbed, Oct. 22, 1879, aged 40 years. 
