194 
THE JOURNAL OF ROTANT 
WILLIAM HENRY PEARSON, M.Sc., A.L.S. 
(1849-1923). 
William Henry Pearson was Lorn on July 22nd, 1849, at 
Pendleton, near Manchester. On leaving school he was placed with a 
Manchester firm of yarn agents to learn the business, and eventually 
set up in the same line himself. Although he actively participated 
in this business up to the time of the short illness which caused his 
death, he found time to acquire such an extensive knowledge of 
Hepaticce that for many years he was the chief authority in this 
country on these plants. It seemed a peculiar thing to enter a yarn 
agent’s office and find an enthusiastic hepaticologist, who greeted one 
with a pleasant smile and readily entered into a conversation about 
his beloved plants. Many an interesting interlude to business has 
been spent in this way; not once only, but scores of times has a 
scientific discussion been interrupted by the whirr of the telephone- 
bell and the enthusiastic botanist become the business man quoting 
the prices of various yarns. As a general rule, however, Pearson did 
not mix up his business with his botany: on ’Change he was the keen 
business man selling his yarns, and many of his customers knew not 
that his botanical reputation was an international one. Now and 
again, business cares were put on one side, and he indulged in a 
botanical ramble with one of those who had the privilege of knowing 
him. A stranger, meeting him on such an occasion, never dreamt 
that the man with such a remarkable knowledge of the characters and 
habitats of the small liverworts was yesterday making a deal with a 
cotton-doubler, as business cares or worries were very rarely mentioned 
even to Ins most intimate friends. 
One of our joint expeditions stands out very prominently in my 
memory. Mr. Broome of Failsworth and I were going to Helamere 
Forest, and Pearson was to meet us at the Central Station, Manchester. 
He was not on the platform, and, as we concluded that business had 
prevented him from coming, we went on to Helamere without him 
and examined the marshy places round Oakmere. Our “ bag ” was a 
good one and included some rare Ceplialoziie. On our way back 
towards Helamere station we met Pearson, who had seen the tail-end 
of our train and followed on by the next. He was so pleased with 
our finds that we had to retrace our steps, so that he could delight 
himself with the sight of such interesting plants in their natural 
situations. Our second visit repaid us ; not only was our way rendered 
shorter by Pearson’s genial comradeship and pleasant discourse, but 
other plants which we had failed to observe were discovered b}^ him, 
and with his usual generosity pointed out and commented upon. 
Pearson’s first botanical interest was in ferns and their culture ; 
later he developed a love for alpine plants, and an article on British 
alpine plants in the Rucksack Club Journal of 1907 is reminiscent of 
this phase. In an article on Holgelley (Lane. & Ches. Naturalist, 
Hec. 1922 and Jan. 1923), quoted in the March number of this Journal 
(p. 94), he explains how the desire to know more about the structures 
and life-stories of plants was initiated by his fern-collecting. By this 
