477 
FRED.  HAMILTON  DAVEY,  F.L.S. 
If  I  were  asked  what  I  admired  most  highly  in  my 
dear  friend,  Fred.  Hamilton  Davey,  I  should  say  it  was 
the  extraordinary  energy  and  thoroughness  with  which 
he  accomplished  a  wonderful  amount  of  botanical  work 
notwithstanding  the  handicaps  of  only  an  ordinary  village 
education  (he  left  school  at  the  early  age  of  11)  and 
very  indifferent  health ;  to  which  may  well  be  added  his 
remoteness  from  any  centre  of  learning,  and  the  constant 
tie  of  his  occupation.  He  was  always  cheerful,  an 
excellent  correspondent  and  companion,  and  he  had  the 
rare  accomplishment  of  infusing  some  of  his  unbounded 
energy  into  his  fellow  workers.  It  was  indeed  a  pleasure 
to  work  with  and  for  him. 
As  he  indicates  in  the  dedication  of  his  “  Flora  of 
Cornwall,”  his  father  was  the  first  one  who  inspired  him 
with  a  love  for  plants.  Later  he  came  under  the  influence 
of  Canon  Saltern  Rogers,  In  a  short  time  he  learnt  all 
the  botany  the  dear  old  Canon  could  teach  him,  and  got 
well  ahead  of  his  teacher.  He  then  became  acquainted 
with  Mr.  A.  0.  Hume,  and  his  idea  of  a  Cornish  flora 
became  a  possibility,  as  Mr.  Hume  was  able  to  help  with 
the  necessarily  considerable  expense  involved,  and  in  the 
search  for  Cornish  records  through  a  large  quantity  of 
scarce  literature.  Soon  he  got  together  a  band  of  workers, 
and  after  about  three  year’s  work  brought  out  his 
‘‘Tentative  List”  in  1902.  This  was  an  innovation  at 
that  time,  though  obviously  the  best  way  of  getting  the 
material  for  the  Flora  proper. 
In  the  years  between  the  publication  of  the 
“  Tentative  List  ”  and  the  completed  Flora  he  accom¬ 
plished  his  best  work,  adding  many  plants  to  the  Cornish 
list,  thoroughly  searching  considerable  areas  himself,  and 
assisting  and  encouraging  others  to  do  likewise.  In  this 
period  he  studied  the  more  critical  genera,  such  as  Rabi 
and  Euphrasies,  with  excellent  results.  Records  came 
in  so  well,  and  he  worked  so  hard,  that  he  was  able  in 
1909  to  publish  his  “  Flora  of  Cornwall,”  a  fine  volume 
of  over  600  pages,  and  well  worthy  of  taking  its  proper 
