Richard Warner (botanist)
Richard Warner (c. 1711-13 – 11 April 1775) was an English botanist and literary scholar.
Life
Warner was born in London, probably in 1713, the third son of John Warner, a goldsmith and banker, in business in
Richard Warner entered Wadham College, Oxford, in July 1730, and graduated B.A. in 1734. He had chambers in Lincoln's Inn; but lived mainly at Woodford where he maintained a botanical garden, and cultivated exotic plants.
In 1748 Warner received a visit from
Warner died unmarried on 11 April 1775, at Harts, and was buried on the 20th in Woodford churchyard, more probably, as stated in the register, aged 62, rather than, as stated on his tomb, sixty-four.
Works
Warner made collections for a new edition of Shakespeare, but gave up the project when George Steevens began in the field. In 1768 Warner published a letter to David Garrick Concerning a Glossary to the Plays of Shakespeare. Papers concerning the glossary came to the Garrick Collection. Manuscripts for this glossary, including one in fifty-one quarto volumes, and another in twenty octavo volumes, are in the British Library (Add MSS 10464–10543).
Warner also translated several plays of
Meanwhile, he had, in 1771, printed his botanical work, Plantæ Woodfordienses: Catalogue of … Plants growing spontaneously about Woodford. This little book had its origin in the ‘herborisations’ of the
Legacy
Warner bequeathed the bulk of his property to Jervoise Clark, the widower of his niece Kitty, only child of his brother Robert. A director of the East India Company in 1760, he left money to their hospital at Poplar, to David Garrick, and to fund for decayed actors. His books and drawings relating to botany and natural history went to Wadham College, with money to found a botanical exhibition at the college tenable for seven years by the presentation of fifty dried plants and a certificate.
At Idsworth, Hampshire, the seat of the Jervoise family, there was a portrait of Richard Warner.
References
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Warner, Richard (1713?-1775)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.