David Prain
Sir David Prain FRSE | |
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Born | Fettercairn, Scotland | 11 July 1857
Died | 16 March 1944 Whyteleafe, England | (aged 86)
Nationality | Scottish |
Education | Aberdeen Grammar School |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Botany |
Sir David Prain
Life
Born to David Prain, a saddler, and his wife Mary Thomson, in
In 1884 Prain was recommended to Sir George King (1840–1909), home on leave from his position as director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Calcutta and looking for a medical student with botanical interests to enter the Indian Medical Service. Prain duly went to India as a physician / botanist in the service, and in 1887 was appointed curator of the Calcutta herbarium.[3]
In 1888 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan, Argyll Robertson, Alexander Crum Brown, and Sir William Turner.[4]
In 1898 he was promoted to Director of the
Perhaps Prain's most difficult time as Director of the Kew gardens was in the years 1904-1908 when he was one of the lead players in an industrial dispute which pitted him against his garden staff and the Kew Garden trade union. Surprisingly his chief adversary was his sub-foreman, William Purdom, representing a band of young gardener trainees. The dispute arose because a cohort of these trainees were not fully informed that their positions were only temporary. In addition to that the gardens industrial conditions were onerous, with a salary for someone such as Purdom well below the usual rates. William Purdom was ferocious as the union representative, bringing the newspapers of the time, the Kew Guild and leading politicians into the fray. Strikes and go-slows became a heated occurrence with Prain perhaps unfortunately blamed for an error made by his predecessor. Prain, who came from a humble background himself, was aware that his workers' grievances were well justified and went out of his way to find alternative positions in private employ for all those affected. Purdom appears to have continued the fight on principle and on a personal basis for another year until Prain finally made it a case that his combative gardener Purdom had to go, or he himself would. The establishment had no option but to back the Kew Director. The bizarre and unexpected twist however came in the final days just before Christmas 1908. Despite being a bane to the Kew Director, the latter clearly recognized the talents of William Purdom and recommended his employee as a plant collector for a joint venture by Harry Veitch and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University to the northern provinces of China in 1909. No sooner had Purdom's dismissal been finalized, than that same establishment arranged for the British administration, including the Legation in Beijing, to give him all assistance. David Prain was evidently a very fair and honourable man.[6]
He served as President of the Linnean Society 1916 to 1919.
Prain died at Whyteleafe in Surrey on 16 March 1944.
Publications
- Flora of the Sundribuns (1903)
- Bengal Plants (1903) republished 1963
- Diseases of Cultivated Trees and Plants (1914)
- Science Discipline (1930)
Honours and awards
In May 1905, Prain was elected a
In 1888 George King and Joseph Dalton Hooker published Prainea King ex Hook.f. a flowering plant in the Moraceae family and named in David Prain's honour. Later in 2019 Hiroyoshi Ohashi and Kazuaki Ohashi published Daprainia H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi (in the Fabaceae family).[10]
Private life
In 1887 Prain married Margaret Caird Thomson, daughter of Reverend William Thomson of Belhevie, south of Aberdeen. They had one son, Theodore Prain (1888-1914), who was killed in the first weeks of the
Botanical Reference
References
- ^ S2CID 162727884.
- ^ "David Prain (1857–1944)". HuntInstitute. Archived from the original on 16 June 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ "Prain, Lt.-Col. Sir David". Who's Who: 1999–2000. 1919.[permanent dead link]
- ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ "Adapted from Dykes, The Genus *Iris, p. 30" (PDF). ars-grin.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-646-59786-7Published by author in an edition limited to 250 copies. Melbourne 2019.
- ^ "Librar and Archive catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 27 December 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "David Prain". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ISBN 978-3-946292-41-8. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ "Casualty Details: Prain, Theodore", Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 17 December 2023
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Prain.
External links
- Durand, Théophile; Benjamin Daydon Jackson; William Turner Thiselton-Dyer; David Prain; Arthur William Hill; Edward James Salisbury (1908). Index Kewensis plantarum phanerogamarum: Supplementum Tertium Nomina et Synonyma Omnium Generum et Specierum AB Initio Anni MDCCCCI Usque AD Finem Anni MDCCCCV Complectens (suppl. 3, 1901–1905 ed.). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Correspondence to David Prain as Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is being made available online through the Directors' Correspondence Project.