Flora Mancuniensis
The study of botany in 19th-century Manchester
“For Nature’s charms, the hills and woods, The sweeping vales, and foaming floods, Are free alike to all.”
(‘Flora Mancuniensis’ (1840), p. iv.)
Shared Knowledge
Interest in botany in the 19th-century was shared by both artisan and gentleman botanists. Although inhabiting different social worlds, these participants, aided by the common language of Linnean taxonomic names, regularly corresponded, exchanging specimens and information. This sharing of knowledge contributed to the publication of Manchester’s first local flora (1840) which detailed the plants growing in “the extensive bogs and moors, the ditches and ponds” of a region which was already changing rapidly due to industrialisation and urbanisation.
Although edited by John Bland Wood (1813–90), a physician and bryologist, the text was largely written by the artisan botanist Richard Buxton (1786–1865), assisted by Leo Hartley Grindon (1818–1904) and others. The book includes a list of 235 subscribers, mainly from the Manchester area. The Library’s copy, one of four acquired by Grindon, has been specially bound with a substantial number of extra pages. These contain Grindon’s handwritten field notes on habitat.
Richard Buxton and the Artisan Botanists
An archetype of the South Lancashire autodidact, Richard Buxton, a Manchester shoemaker, taught himself to read at the age of sixteen. Like many working-class naturalists, his interest in botany developed from a familiarity with herbalism. During country walks with his employer, to collect ingredients for “diet drinks”, Buxton often encountered unfamiliar plants. This inspired the purchase of Culpepper’s ‘Herbal’, followed by William Meyrick’s ‘New Family Herbal’, from which Buxton learned the Linnaean system of classification.
Despite “disadvantages and difficulties”, including limited time and money, Buxton purchased further scientific works to develop his understanding of the “anatomy, physiology, and structure of plants”. His book study informed his observations in the field, as he wandered “hundreds of miles” on botanical excursions. Buxton, who likened dried specimens to “pallid corpses”, preferred “to observe living plants on the spots where they grew”. While recognising that collections of dried specimens were “essential for the study of the structure and character of plants”, he also acknowledged the ecological impact of over-collecting:
“.. it has frequently been the custom to collect specimens to such an extent, as to destroy the plant.”
(Richard Buxton, ‘A Botanical Guide …’ (1849), p. vi)
Although searching for, recording and collecting plant specimens might be seen as a solitary pursuit, individuals often sought the company of fellow enthusiasts. Sunday botanical meetings in public houses date back to the second half of the 18th-century. For the payment of a small, monthly membership fee, members could pool knowledge, share reference books and contribute specimens to the society’s herbarium.
Richard Buxton’s association with other amateur botanists began following a chance encounter on Kersal Moor (1826) with John Horsfield, weaver and founder of the Prestwich Botanical Society. Encouraged by his friends to share his botanical knowledge, Buxton published ‘A Botanical Guide to the Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mosses, and Algae, Found Indigenous Within Sixteen Miles of Manchester’ (1849). The book was accompanied by ‘A Brief Memoir of the Author’, which provides an excellent overview of the network of “botanists in humble life”. Their occupations, as recorded by Buxton, include: gardener, weaver, shoemaker, blacksmith, saddler, mechanic, bleacher and twister-in.
Leo Hartley Grindon
From the mid-19th century onwards, the study of natural history became more closely associated with the middle-classes. Born in Bristol, Leo Grindon moved to Manchester in 1838. A collector of dried plants from the age of 13, Grindon gave private lessons in botany alongside his professional work as a cashier. He was appointed as a lecturer at the Manchester Royal School of Medicine (1852) and founded the Manchester Field Naturalist Society (1860).
Grindon wrote a number of books on botany, including ‘The Manchester Flora: A Descriptive List of the Plants Growing Wild Within Eighteen Miles of Manchester’ (1859). This was issued in the same year as the second edition of Buxton’s ‘Botanical Guide’, and had an adverse effect on Buxton’s profits.
‘The Manchester Flora’ was written as a companion to ‘Manchester Walks & Wild-Flowers’ (1858). Our copy of the second edition of this work includes the book label of the wealthy Manchester businessman, Charles Bailey (1838–1924) who was another keen amateur botanist.
Legacy
Whether compiled by working- or middle-class enthusiasts, Manchester’s early printed floras provide a snapshot of the botanical diversity in a rapidly-changing region.
Scientific meetings of botanists in public houses are remembered in pub names, eg the Railway & Naturalist in Prestwich.
The dried plant samples of Leo Hartley Grindon and Charles Bailey are among the foundation collections of Manchester Museum Herbarium.
The stained-glass Shakespeare Window at Manchester Central Library was bequeathed in memory of Leo Hartley Grindon by his widow, Rosa.
Discussion Points
Why did botany appeal to different social groups?
Consider the relationship between herbalism, gardening and botany.
The majority of 19th-century botanists were male. What factors might have contributed to this?
Additional Resources
Richard Buxton, ‘A Botanical Guide to the Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mosses, and Algae, Found Indigenous Within Sixteen Miles of Manchester: With Some Information as to Their Agricultural, Medicinal, and Other Uses’. (Manchester, 1849). Available here. Includes a short autobiography of the author.
Leo Hartley Grindon, ‘Manchester Walks & Wild-Flowers: An introduction to the botany and rural beauty of the district.’ 2nd ed. (Manchester, 1859?). Available here.
John Percy, ‘Scientists in Humble Life: The Artisan Naturalists of South Lancashire’ in ‘Manchester Region History Review’, Vol. V, no. 1, Spring/Summer 1991 (Manchester, 1991), pp. 3–10.
Ann Secord, ‘Corresponding Interests: Artisans and Gentlemen in Nineteenth-Century Natural History’ in ‘The British Journal for the History of Science’, Vol. 27, no. 4 (1994), pp. 383–408.
Ann Secord, ‘Science in the Pub: Artisan Botanists in Early Nineteenth-Century Lancashire’ in ‘History of Science’, Vol. 3, issue 3, (1994) pp. 269–315.
A short film produced as part of the Artisan Naturalists Project (2014).
