Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hanbury, Daniel
HANBURY, DANIEL (1825–1875), pharmacist, was born in London on 11 Sept. 1825. His parents, Daniel Bell and Rachel Hanbury, were well-known members of the Society of Friends. He left school early, his proficiency in languages and drawing being acquired in after life. At the age of sixteen he entered the house of Allen & Hanbury of Plough Court, Lombard Street, in which his father was a partner. Three years later, in 1844, he entered as a student in the laboratory of the Pharmaceutical Society, of which he became a member in 1857, and from I860 to 1872 he was on the board of examiners. He was especially, though not exclusively, de- voted to pharmaceutical subjects, and his many papers, published at various times, were collected in a memorial volume after his death. He took particular interest in the materia medica of the Chinese, on the derivation of storax, and the various descriptions of cardamom. He became a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1855, and was its treasurer at the time of his death; he also joined the Chemical Society in 1858, and the Microscopical in 1867, in which year he was elected into the Royal Society, and five years afterwards was a member of its council. He much enjoyed foreign travel, and in 1860 he visited Palestine with Dr. (now Sir Joseph) Hooker. In 1870 he retired from business. He died on 24 March 1875.
Hanbury wrote: 1. 'Inquiries relating to Pharmacology and Economic Botany' (in the 'Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry') 2. 'Pharmacographia,' 1874; his most important work, written in conjunction with Professor Flückiger of Strasburg. 3. 'Science Papers . . .,' edited, with memoir, by J. Ince, 1876.
Dr. Seemann in 1858 named the cucurbitaceous genus Hanburya in his friend's honour.
[Memoir by J. Ince in Science Papers as above; Roy. Soc. Cat. Sci. Papers, and Jackson's Veget. Technology, 8vo, pp. 80-2; Proc. Linn. Soc., 1874-5, pp. 47-9.]