Frederick Manson Bailey | |
|---|---|
 Frederick Manson Bailey | |
| Born | 8 March 1827 |
| Died | 25 June 1915 (aged 88) |
| Resting place | South Brisbane Cemetery |
| Spouse | Anna Maria Bailey |
| Awards | Clarke Medal (1902) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany, Horticulture |
| Institutions | Queensland Museum |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | F.M.Bailey |
Frederick Manson Bailey CMG (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist who worked in Australia. He helped describe the plants of Queensland. People called him by his middle name, Manson.
Frederick Manson Bailey was born in London. His father, John Bailey, worked with plants and seeds in London for many years.. Frederick went to school in Hackney, London. In 1838, the family moved to Australia and arrived in Adelaide in 1839. His father became the first colonial botanist and helped start the Adelaide Botanic Garden. He worked as colonial botanist until 1841.
In 1856, Manson married Anna Maria, the daughter of a church leader. In 1858, he moved to New Zealand and took land in the Hutt Valley. But in 1861, because of wars in New Zealand, he left and went to New South Wales, Australia. That same year, he moved to Queensland and started collecting plants from different parts of the state. He also wrote articles about plants. His first important book was "Handbook of Queensland Ferns" in 1874. He also worked with Karl Staiger on a book about grasses in Queensland.
In 1880, Manson worked with Julian Tenison-Woods to publish a list of plants in Brisbane. In 1881, he became the Queensland colonial botanist.
Manson traveled a lot to study plants. Some important trips were to Rockingham Bay, Seaview Range, and the upper Herbert River in 1873; western Queensland, Roma, and Rockhampton in 1876; Cairns and the Barron River in 1877; Mount Bellenden Ker in 1889; Georgina River in 1895; Torres Strait in 1897; and British New Guinea in 1898. He won the Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1902 and was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (C.M.G.) in 1911. He died on 25 June 1915 in Brisbane and was buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.
About 50 plant species are named after him, like Acacia baileyana and Grevillea baileyana. His son, John Frederick Bailey, was also a botanist and worked as director of the Brisbane and Adelaide botanic gardens. His grandson, Cyril Tenison White, was a government botanist in Queensland and worked with him in 1905.