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John Henry Lace C.I.E. F.L.S 1857-1918

Career
1881: Gained the Diploma of the National School of Forestry at Nancy passing out 2nd. This was the premier College at that time. Appointed to the Forestry Dept. of India in the Punjab. Worked at Gujranwala and Chamba.
1900: Transferred to Calcutta and Simla as Assistant Inspector General of Forests and Superintendent of Working Plans.
1901: Appointed Conservator of Forests Bengal based at HQ Darjeeling.
1904 Transferred to Burma as Conservator then Chief Conservator in 1908. (From 1906-07 he was Principal of Dehra Dun College and its Silviculturist)
1913 Retired to England. Worked at Kew with W.G. Craib on the “Burma List”.
1918 Died at Exmouth.

Collecting:
In the Punjab, Lace collected forest flora over a wide area in the newly organised Forest Circle of British Baluchistan. Many specimens were sent back to Kew. The Linnean Society published his “Sketch of the Vegetation” in 1891. It remains the chief authority of Flora on the Quetta area.
In Calcutta and Simla, he extended his collection of flora before moving to Darjeeling with its higher altitude plants. His work here is his main claim to fame. “He was a great critic, and was at times hard to please, but always helped in anything that was sound, and was an excellent man to work under”. (From the Indian Forester)
In Burma his chief interest was the botanical study of the Maymyo Hills and the Shan States. He created the “List of the Trees, Shrubs and Climbers of Burma” which became a standard reference for botanists. This proved him to be a first class observer, memoriser and photographer. His labelling of plants was impeccable.
Distribution: Lace was generous in distributing his collections: one nearly complete went to Kew; others to Calcutta, Oxford and friends. His own complete collection came to RBG in Edinburgh. All his specimens were meticulously prepared.
Retirement: Lace spent much time at Kew working with W G Craib, expanding his “Burma List” and starting work on “Forest Flora of the Maymyo Hills”. Because of his untimely death, this work remained unfinished.
Family: Lace married the eldest daughter of W H Reynolds FRGS, Superintendent of the Indian Forest Services They had three daughters. The family settled in Exmouth, Devon, and after the outbreak of war in 1914, Lace served in the Exmouth Volunteers. While serving with them, Lace contracted a chill which lead to his untimely death. It is probable that if he had lived longer his reputation would have burgeoned still further.
PM

Augustin Léveillé attended medical school prior to entering into the priesthood. In 1887 he travelled to India as a missionary and was then appointed a professor of natural history at the College of Pondicherry. In 1891 he returned to France for health reasons, settling in his hometown of Le Mans. Following a meeting with botanist Adrien René Franchet in 1900, he agreed to perform studies on the many thousands of plant specimens sent by collectors from the Far East. From these shipments Léveillé is credited with describing around 2000 new species with many of the plants being co-described along with Father Eugène Vaniot. In 1892 he founded the magazine Le Monde des Plantes, serving as its director until his death. During the same year he founded the Académie internationale de géographie botanique (International Academy of Botanical Geography). He published several monographs on plants collected from Japan and China as well as a dictionary of French flora in 1916. Numerous species are named in his honour, as well as the genus Leveillea (family Asteraceae). His herbarium was acquired by Scottish botanist George Forrest.
Source: Wikipedia
D.W.

created the rhododendron gates at the RBGE East Gate entrance, Inverleith

Born in Ireland in 1805, Madden was an Officer in the Bengal Artillery between 1830 and 1849. He sent seeds to Glasnevin Botanic Garden in Dublin between 1841 and 1849, and after this collected plants in Aden, Suez, Cairo and Malta. He became President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1853 and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Source: Desmond

Born Perthshire 1839; died Perthshire 1922
Charles McIntosh, sometimes known as ‘The Perthshire Naturalist’, was a postman whose rounds enabled him to observe and study the local flora and fauna of rural Perthshire. He was a member of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science and later the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland. He became friends with the young Beatrix Potter, then holidaying in the Dunkeld area, through their common interest in fungi, and helped improve the accuracy of her illustrations, taught her taxonomy and supplied live specimens to paint during the winter. McIntosh discovered thirteen species of fungus completely new to Britain and four new to science and some of his collection is now in the City of Perth museum. He contributed to FBW White’s ‘Fl. Perthshire’ published in1898.
Sources: R. Desmond ‘Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists’;‘Perthshire Diary’ for 1922; City of Perth Council website
D.W.