Abstract
AN active and accomplished botanist passed away on November 28, at Aintree, Liverpool, in the person of Mr. J. A. Wheldon. James Alfred Wheldon was horn at Northallerton in 1862, and was educated at Cleveland College, Darlington, and the Westminster College of Pharmacy. He qualified as a pharmacist about 1884 and started in business at York, but four years later a disastrous fire robbed him of all his collections. In 1891 he was appointed pharmacist at H.M. Prison, at Walton, Liverpool, a post which he held for thirty years. Until he received this appointment, Mr. Wheldon's botanical studies were chiefly concerned with phanerogams, but from this point he devoted much of his time to mosses. He was one of the founders of the Moss Exchange Club, which afterwards became the British Bryological Society, and during its latest season distributed nearly 5000 specimens, for which Mr. Wheldon acted as referee. In 1907 he published his most extensive botanical work, the excellent “Flora of West Lancashire,” in conjunction with Mr. Albert Wilson, but his pen was constantly busy, especially on mosses. In 1901 Mr. Wheldon was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and withdrew in 1918 upon his retirement; but last year he was elected an associate of the Society, a distinction he greatly valued. He received the honorary degree of M.Sc. from the University of Liverpool in 1922. His botanic collections were extensive and embraced practically every group of cryptogams; they would be a worthy accession to some institution.
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J., B. Mr. J. A. Wheldon. Nature 114, 904 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114904b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114904b0
