Background
Katherine Sophia Baily was born 11 March 1811, the only child of Henry and Bridget Baily (née O"Kelly). Her father was from Berkshire, England, and he moved to Limerick for his work as a distiller.
Katherine Sophia Baily was born 11 March 1811, the only child of Henry and Bridget Baily (née O"Kelly). Her father was from Berkshire, England, and he moved to Limerick for his work as a distiller.
Her uncle was the astronomer and vice-president of the Royal Society, Francis Baily. Katherine married Robert Kane in 1838. lieutenant is believed that she met Robert Kane after the proof of The Irish Flora was sent to him in error.
The Kanes had seven surviving children, including Robert Romney Kane and Henry Coey Kane.
She died 25 February 1886 in Dublin. The 1833 Linnean botanical work The Irish Flora, which was published anonymously, is ascribed to her.
Katherine was aged 22 at the time of its first publication and although not a large work, it was one of the first of its kind, and lauded for its accuracy. The book became the recommended botany text in Trinity College, Dublin as it contained the first record of many plants.
lieutenant is believed John White, of the Irish Botanic Gardens, helped with the compilation of the work, and that it was Doctor Walter Wade who encouraged her in this work.
She had an interest in the cultivation of trees, writing about the subject for the Irish Farmer"s and Gardener"s Magazine. The standard author transcript Kane is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.
In 1836, the then 25-year-old Katherine became the first woman to be elected member of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, and her herbarium is housed in University College Cork.