ii Obituary . — Henry Harold Welch Pearson . 
Studentship, he became a member of Gonville and Caius College. He 
was appointed Assistant Curator of the Cambridge Herbarium in 1898, 
and in 1899 he was awarded the Walsingham Medal for his work on 
the vegetation of the Ceylon patanas. He was appointed Assistant (for 
India) in the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1899, and two 
years later was transferred to the Director’s office. In 1903 Pearson 
was elected to the Harry Bolus Professorship of Botany at the South 
African College, Cape Town, and took up his duties in April of that 
year. The relations between Dr. Harry Bolus and the first occupant 
of the chair bearing his name were always most cordial. The confidence 
felt by the older man for the younger, and expressed in many acts of 
kindness, was repaid by the respect and affection which he received in 
return. In a biographical sketch of Dr. Bolus Pearson described him as 
‘ a man who, one would think, almost unknown to himself, has played a 
great part in the establishment of Botany as a science in South Africa’, 
a description that would also apply to the writer of these words. In 1915, 
under the editorship of Pearson, the Cambridge University Press published 
the first part of the ‘ Annals of the Bolus Herbarium *, a periodical devoted 
primarily to work inspired directly or indirectly by Dr. Bolus, and to inves- 
tigations conducted in or in connexion with the Bolus Herbarium. He was 
also editor of the ‘Journal of the Botanic Society of South Africa a Society 
of which he was one of the most active members. 
Before leaving England Pearson married Ethel, the youngest daughter 
of the late William Pratt, of Little Bradley, Suffolk. He took the Cambridge 
Sc.D. degree in 1907, and in 1916 was elected a Fellow of the Royal 
Society. 
In the following sketch I have quoted freely from a series of letters in 
my possession in order to enable the reader to come into intimate relation 
with Pearson’s singularly attractive personality. He combined the qualifi- 
cations of the best type of student with the wisdom of the man of 
affairs ; capable in organization, an original thinker, and a warm-hearted 
friend. He retained the enthusiasm and brightness of youth, and his 
uniform courtesy and tact made him popular with all who knew him. His 
influence as a botanist extended far beyond the ranks of his professional 
colleagues. It would be difficult to estimate at its true value the services 
he rendered to South Africa. He was a successful and stimulating teacher ; 
his own keenness in research gave reality to his lectures, and through his 
influence several of his pupils came to Cambridge to continue investigations 
which he had suggested. The place he occupied in the hearts of his 
students is illustrated by the following extracts from letters written to his 
widow : ‘ He was our best and truest friend, for we had learnt to look to 
him for guidance and counsel in all matters of importance.’ ‘ Those of us 
who had the privilege of working under him feel that it is an honourable 
