Charles Chesters
{{Short description|British botanist (1904–1993)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Charles Chesters
| honorific_suffix = OBE FRSE FLS
| birth_date = 1904
| birth_name = Charles Geddes Coull Chesters
| birth_place = Glasgow
| nationality = British
| death_date = 1993
| death_place = Quenington, near Cirencester
| field = Botany
| author_abbrev_bot = Chesters
}}
Charles Geddes Coull Chesters OBE FRSE FLS (1904–1993) was a British botanist specialising in fungi and lichens.{{Cite web | url=http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?mode=details&id=72491 |title = Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries}}
Life
He was born in Glasgow on 9 March 1904, the son of Charles Geddes Chesters, a commercial traveller, and Margaret Geddes. He attended Hyndland School in Glasgow. He was awarded a place at Glasgow University in 1922 and graduated BSc in botany in 1926.{{cite web |url=http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=bath.corporateName&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=university%20of%20birmingham |title=Archived copy |website=cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk |access-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006031222/http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=bath.corporateName&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=university%20of%20birmingham |archive-date=6 October 2015 |url-status=dead}}
His early interest lay in aquatic and salt-marsh vegetation. However, from 1931 he began to specialise in fungi, and founded the Research School in Phycomycetes (looking at fungi responsible for soil-born plant diseases) and Pyrenomycetes (wood- and bark-inhibiting fungi). At this time he was working with Walter Stiles FRS at Birmingham University. In 1937 he received a PhD for work in this field. In the war he served as an air raid warden. In 1944 he succeeded Thomas Bennet-Clark as professor of botany at Nottingham, holding this position for 25 years. He was also dean of faculty from 1945.{{Cite web |url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/chesters_charles.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=5 October 2015 |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006043633/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/chesters_charles.pdf |url-status=dead }}
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1953.{{Cite book |url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783–2002: Part 1 (A–J) |author=C D Waterston |author2=A Macmillan Shearer |publisher=Royal Society of Edinburgh |isbn=090219884X |date=July 2006 |access-date=18 September 2015 |archive-date=24 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |url-status=dead}}
He retired in 1969 and moved to Quenington, where his daughter already lived.
In 1977 he received an OBE for services to education.
He died at home on 13 February 1993 in Quenington, near Cirencester.
Artistic recognition
A commemorative bust to Chesters stands in the Biology Building at the University of Nottingham.{{cite web |url=http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=bath.corporateName&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=university%20of%20birmingham |title=Archived copy |website=cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk |access-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006031222/http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=bath.corporateName&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=university%20of%20birmingham |archive-date=6 October 2015 |url-status=dead}}
Publications
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Other Positions Held
- President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
- Co-founder of the Institute of Biology
Family
He married Margaret Mercedes Cathie Maclean in 1928.
They had a son, Charles and daughter Kathleen.
References
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Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Category:Scientists from Glasgow
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