Background

Charles Cardale Babington was born on November 23, 1808 Ludlow, England. He was the only child of Joseph Babington and Cathérine née Whitter, and a nephew of Thomas Babington Macaulay. His father, a physician, was a keen amateur botanist and doubtless influenced his son’s inclination to natural history.

Education

After a succession of private schools and a brief interlude at Charterhouse, Babington entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1826, graduating B.A. in 1830 and receiving the M.A. in 1833.

Career

Babington’s first work, Flora Bathoniensis (1834), with critical notes and references to Continental floras, adumbrated the direction of his future taxonomic work. Two visits to the Channel Islands, in 1837 and 1838, resulted in his Primitiae florae Sarnicae (1839). The Napoleonic Wars had isolated the British Isles from botanical research in the rest of Europe, where the natural system of plant classification was generally accepted, and therefore Linnaeus’ artificial arrangement was perpetuated in such standard English works as J. E. Smith’s English Botany and the earlier editions of W. J. Hooker’s British Flora. Consequently, it was difficult for English botanists to identify the new plants published in Continental floras, a defect remedied by Babington in successive editions of his Manual of British Botany. Considered to be his magnum opus, it made its first appearance in 1843 and, with the exception of the fifth edition of Hooker’s British Flora, was the first complete guide to British plants arranged according to a natural system. Accurate and clear in its descriptions, meticulous in its assignment of genera and species, the Manual soon established itself as an indispensable field companion.

Babington differed from many of his contemporaries in insisting upon a more critical delimitation of species; this was well demonstrated in his British Rubi (1869), which described in impressive detail some forty-five species. On the death of his friend Henslowin 1861, Babington was elected to the chair of botany at Cambridge, which he held until his death.

His own collection of nearly 55,000 sheets was bequeathed to Cambridge, together with his library. At the time of his death Babington was the senior fellow of the Linnean Society, having been elected in 1830; in 1851 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

Achievements

• Babington was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851 in recognition of his botanical work, and succeeded to the chair of botany at Cambridge in 1861. His interests were shared between botany and archaeology, but he also retained a lifelong interest in evangelical mission work.
  
  Babington was President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association at their meeting at Church Stretton in 1881 and for many years served as Chairman of the council of the Association. He wrote Manual of British Botany (1843), Flora of Cambridgeshire (1860), The British Rubi (1869) and edited the publication Annals and Magazine of Natural History from 1842. His herbarium and library are conserved by the University of Cambridge.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Memorials Journal and Botanical Correspondence of Charles Cardale Babington

    (Excerpt from Memorials Journal and Botanical Corresponden...)

    2018
  • Flora of Cambridgeshire, or a Catalogue of Plants Found in the County of Cambridge: With References to Former Catalogues, and the Localities of the Rarer Species

    (Excerpt from Flora of Cambridgeshire, or a Catalogue of P...)

    2018
  • Flora Bathoniensis, or a Catalogue of the Plants Indigenous to the Vicinity of Bath

    (Excerpt from Flora Bathoniensis, or a Catalogue of the Pl...)

    2017
  • Memorials Journal and Botanical Correspondence of Charles Cardale Babington

    (Collated by his widow and published in 1897, this collect...)

    2013
  • Charles Cardale babington 1895
  • Memorials, Journal and Botanical Correspondence of Charles Cardale Babington 2018
  • Memorials, journal and botanical correspondence of Charles Cardale Babington 1897
  • The British rubi; an attempt to discriminate the species of Rubus known to inhabit the British Isles 2012
  • A Synopsis of the British Rubi 2011
  • A Catalogue of British Plants: Pt. St. Containing the Flowering Plants and Ferns 2011
  • History of the infirmary and chapel of the hospital and college of St John the Evangelistat Cambridge 2013
  • Manual of British botany: containing the flowering plants and ferns arranged according to the natural orders 1856
  • Primitiæ Floræ Sarnicæ: Or, an Outline of the Flora of the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Serk 2017
  • Ancient Cambridgeshire: Or an Attempt to Trace Roman and Other Ancient Roads That Passed Through the County of Cambridge; 2016

Views

Cardale Babington was an indifferent and infrequent lecturer; his interests were mainly in research, and during his professorship many additions were made to the Cambridge Herbarium, the most notable being John Lindley’s collection.

Membership

Babington was a member of several scientific societies including the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, the Linnean Society of London (1853), the Geological Society of London, the Royal Society (1851), and the Cambrian Archaeological Association. Babington is generally credited as being among the founding members of the Entomological Society of London - later to become the Royal Entomological Society. He was also among the founding members of this Cambridge University club. Completely involved in the natural history activities of Cambridge for more than forty years, Babington was a leading member of the Ray Club, which developed into the Ray Society (founded 1844). A man of wide intellectual interests, he was a founding member of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.

Connections

Charles married Anna Maria Walker in 1866.

Father:

Joseph Babington

Mother:

Catherine Whitter

Wife:

Anna Maria Walker

Cousin:

Churchill Babington

Friend:

John Henslow

In his first year at Cambridge Babington established an enduring friendship with J. S. Henslow, professor of botany, whose enthusiasm confirmed Babington’s lifelong devotion to botany.

References

• World Who's Who in Science: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists from Antiquity to the Present A compact reference to leading world scientists and their achievements.
  1968
• Dictionary of National Biography
  2014
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  1970