James Backhouse

James Backhouse
See also Archived 25 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine for two other James Backhouse botanists and nursery owners of York.

James Backhouse (8 July 1794 – 20 January 1869) was a botanist and a missionary for the Quaker church in Australia. His son, also named James Backhouse (1825–1890), was likewise a botanist.

Australia

As part of his legacy, the Australia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) established a lecture series in 1964, as noted in the introduction to the third lecture, delivered by Rudi Lemberg in 1966.

England

Backhouse was honoured by having the plant genus Backhousia named after him, whose species are all native to Australia.

In 2017 a blue plaque was unveiled at 92 Micklegate in York, once the home of the Backhouse brothers and, from 2012 until 2023, the offices of York Conservation Trust and the Council for British Archaeology. The plaque was the result of a collaboration between York Civic Trust, York Conservation Trust, and Yorkshire Gardens Trust. From 1859, Backhouse lived at Holgate House.

Family

Backhouse was the third of five consecutive generations named James, so they are also often mentioned with generational suffix ordinals:

  1. His grandfather James Backhouse (1) (1720–1798), who was the founder of Backhouse's Bank;
  2. His father James Backhouse (2) (1757–1804);
  3. James Backhouse (3) (1794–1869) himself;
  4. His son James Backhouse (4) (1825–1890), who was a notable botanist; and
  5. His grandson James Backhouse (5) (1861–1945), who was the author of A handbook of European birds (1890) and other publications.


After his return from Australia in 1841, James (3) made trips to Norway, to do his missionary work, but also to collect plants, together with his son James (4).

The standard author abbreviation Backh. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

References

  1. ↑ Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (1970–1990). Biographisch-bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon. Vol. 31. Traugott Bautz. Hamm. pp. 35–39. ISBN 3-88309-040-9. OCLC 291776.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ Ray Desmond: Dictionary Of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists. Talyor & Francis, 1994, ISBN 0-85066-843-3, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Meredith Richard, Presiding Clerk, Australia Yearly Meeting. The 1966 James Backhouse Lecture, Seeking in an Age of Imbalance, presented by Rudi Lemberg.
  4. ↑ Greenwood, Darren (10 May 2023). "Council for British Archaeology to move into De Grey House in York". The Press. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  5. ↑ An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 3, South west. HMSO. 1972. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  6. ↑ Gardens (en), Parks and (21 October 1825). "James Backhouse (4)". Parks & Gardens. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  7. ↑ International Plant Names Index. Backh.