William West Jr | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 February 1875 Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 14 September 1901 (aged 26) Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Father | William West (botanist) |
| Relatives | George Stephen West (brother) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | British Museum of Natural History |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | W. West |
William West Jr, ARCS, (11 February 1875 – 14 September 1901) was an English botanist. He was the elder son of the botanist William West, and the brother of George Stephen West. West assisted his father in fieldwork. He wrote papers on flowering plants and phycology for various journals. His official botanical author-abbreviation was W. West, although his authorship in journals was cited as W. West Jun.
West showed great promise in his youth, gaining a scholarship to Bradford Technical College at age 10. At age 14 he won a Royal Exhibition to attend the Royal College of Science, where his achievements in botany won him the Forbes Medal. At age 16 he gained a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge.
He travelled to India to begin a career in which it was hoped that he might discover ways to identify and control fungoid diseases which were attacking indigo plants, which were farmed for commercial dyes. Within three weeks of his arrival in the country, he had died of cholera at the age of 26.