Amelia Griffiths
{{Short description|British phycologist (1768–1858)}}
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{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Amelia Warren Griffiths
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| birth_name = Amelia Warren Rogers
| birth_date = {{birth date |1768|01|14}}
| birth_place = Pilton, Devon, UK
| death_date = {{death date and age |1858|01|04 |1768|01|14}}
| death_place = Torquay, Devon, UK
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| known_for = Phycologist; collection and description of seaweed (marine algae)
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| author_abbrev_bot = A.W.Griffiths
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| spouse = William Griffiths
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| children = 5
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Amelia Griffiths (1768–1858), often referred to in contemporary works as Mrs Griffiths of Torquay, was a beachcomber and amateur phycologist who made many important collections of marine algae specimens.{{Cite book|title=The Marine Botanist: An Introduction to the Study of the British Sea-weeds|last=Gifford|first=Isabella| author-link = Isabella Gifford |publisher=R. Folthorp|year=1853|location=Brighton|pages=244}}
Personal life
Amelia Warren Rogers was born 14 January 1768 in Pilton, Devon, UK.{{cite web |title=The Queen of Seaweeds - The Story of Amelia Griffiths, an Early 19th Century Pioneer of Marine Botany|url=https://philipstrange.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/the-queen-of-seaweeds-the-story-of-amelia-griffiths-an-early-19th-century-pioneer-of-marine-botany/ |website=Philip Strange Science and Nature Writing |date=19 August 2014 |publisher=Philip Strange|access-date=5 February 2022}} Her parents were John and Emily (née Warren) Rogers. She married Rev. William Griffiths, the vicar of St Issey, Cornwall, in 1794, but after his death, she moved her family of five children to Torquay.{{cite web |last1=Miniata |title=Flowers of the Sea - Part 1 |url=https://jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2018/12/flowers-of-sea-part-1.html |website=James Cook University Library}} She died in Torquay on 4 January 1858.
Collaboration and dedications
She corresponded with the botanist William Henry Harvey for many years, becoming a close friend. They met at Torquay in 1839.{{cite news |last1=Strange |first1=Phillip |title=The Queen of seaweeds |url=http://www.marshwoodvale.com/marshwood-past-issues/ |access-date=1 August 2020 |agency=Marshwood Vale Magazine |issue=August |date=2014}}
Harvey dedicated his 1849 Manual of British Algae to her, and once wrote {{blockquote|"If I lean to glorify any one, it is Mrs Griffiths, to whom I owe much of the little acquaintance I have with the variations to which these plants are subject, and who is always ready to supply me with fruits of plants which every one else finds barren. She is worth ten thousand other collectors."{{cite book | author = Praeger, Robert Lloyd | author-link = Robert Lloyd Praeger | year = 1913 | chapter = William Henry Harvey 1811—1866 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/makersofbritishb00oliv_0/page/204 204–224] | editor = Oliver, Francis Wall | editor-link = Francis Wall Oliver | title = Makers of British botany | url = https://archive.org/details/makersofbritishb00oliv_0| publisher = Cambridge University Press}}}}
Carl Adolph Agardh named Griffithsia in her honour in 1817.{{cite book | title = Revealing new worlds: three Victorian women naturalists | series = Women in science | volume = 3 | author = Suzanne Le-May Sheffield | year = 2001 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-27069-3}}
One of her servants, Mary Wyatt, became involved in collecting and selling books of seaweeds as part of her business selling collectables and local souvenirs with assistance from Griffiths.
Described species
Griffiths was the first to describe Ceramium agardhianum A.W.Griffiths ex Harvey 1841 (now C. deslongchampsii) and the species Ceramium botryocarpum in 1844.
{{botanist|A.W.Griffiths|inline=yes}}
Collections
She collected a large number of specimens. Some were sent to other collectors or scientists while she mounted others in albums herself. After her death, her own herbarium became part of Torquay Museum and there are 3 albums of her specimens in Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum. Others became part of the collections in the British Museum, including 780 British seaweeds purchased in 1852 and 880 specimens presented by the North Devon Athenaeum in 1917. She had also provided material to other collectors and these have also found their way into national collections. In addition, some are now within the Kew Herbarium. Her daughter, Amelia Elizabeth Griffiths (1802-1861), also collected seaweeds and some of her collections have been mistaken for those of her mother.{{cite web |title=Griffiths, Amelia Warren (1768-1858) |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000200203 |website=Global Plants - Natural History Museum |publisher=JSTOR |access-date=5 February 2022}}
See also
References
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Category:18th-century British botanists
Category:British women botanists