James De Carle Sowerby

James De Carle Sowerby
James De Carle Sowerby
ChildrenWilliam Sowerby
Sally Sowerby
Parents
RelativesGeorge Brettingham Sowerby I


James De Carle Sowerby (5 June 1787 – 26 August 1871) was a British mineralogist, botanist, and illustrator. He received an education in chemistry.[1]

Sowerby was born in London, the son of botanical artist James Sowerby (1757–1822), and his wife, Anne de Carle (1764–1815). He continued his father's work and published, together with his brother George Brettingham Sowerby I, the latter volumes of the Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, begun by their father.[1]

Together with a cousin, he founded the Royal Botanic Society and Gardens, and was its secretary for 30 years.

His son William Sowerby was also a botanist and illustrator, and succeeded him as Secretary of the Royal Botanic Society in 1869.[2]

In 1846, John William Salter (English naturalist, geologist, palaeontologist, and leading authority on trilobites) married Sally, daughter of Sowerby, and eventually fathered seven children with her.

Sowerby died in Kilburn, London in 1871.[1]

The standard author abbreviation J.C.Sowerby is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]
  1. ^ a b c Cleevely, R. J. (2004). "Sowerby, James De Carle (1787–1871), naturalist and artist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26074. Retrieved 7 April 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Ray Desmond (1994). Dictionary Of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists Including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. CRC Press. pp. 644–. ISBN 978-0-85066-843-8.
  3. ^ International Plant Names Index.  J.C.Sowerby.