Midland Naturalist/Volume 01/The Rev. Andrew Bloxam: A Memoir

by Miles Joseph Berkeley

The Rev. Andrew Bloxam: A Memoir.

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By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. M.A.. F.L.S.. Etc.

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There is, perhaps, no country in which so much good work in Natural Science is done in a quiet and unpretending way as in our own. Many persons, scattered up and down the country, are making valuable observations, which are recorded by themselves or others, from time to time, without taking any prominent position in the scientific world. Such was the subject of the present notice, who, whether from modesty or the cares of tuition, did net take a place as a leading Naturalist, though ho might well have done so from the good work he performed, and the numerous reports on various matters which he furnished to journals of more or less importance, though he has not left any great volume behind him to bear witness to his talents. The Rev. Andrew Bloxam, late Incumbent of Twycross, Leicestershire, and, at the time of his death, on February 2nd, 1878, lector of Great Harborough, was the fourth son of the Rev. Richard Rouse Bloxam, D.D., one of the Masters of Rugby. He was born at Rugby, on the 22nd of September, 1801, and was consequently in his 77th year at the time of his death. He entered at Rugby School in the year 1800, leaving for Worcester College, Oxford, in 1820, of which he ultimately became a Fellow. His father had a great taste for archæology, inherited from his relative Mr. Rowland Rouse, of Market Harborough, a taste which descended to his son Matthew Holbeche, the excellent author of "The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture." and other valuable antiquarian works. The author of this notice recollects, when a schoolboy, procuring for the father a drawing of the curious monument to the Loringe family in Oundle Church. Mr. Bloxam's mother was sister of the celebrated artist Sir Thomas Lawrence, and Mr. Purton, of Alcester, the author of "The Midland Flora," his uncle by marriage, so that there was talent and taste on all sides, and it would have been strange if, with these advantages, he had not inherited some good qualities. There were, moreover, circumstances which were highly in his favour. It has been the practice to ignore all the good that was done at Rugby before the time of Dr. Arnold, but with great injustice. Dr. Wooll, though not a profound scholar, had great taste for literature, and encouraged it wherever he saw an opportunity of doing so. There was a small but well-selected library, which was much used by the upper boys. But this was not all. There were lectures on natural philosophy, which were extremely popular, and some of the boys were trying their hands at waking air-pumps and electrical machines; there was also a course of comparative anatomy, which was extremely good, illustrated with well prepared specimens, and to these more than one were indebted for their first comprehensive views of physiology. The vicinity of the Lias pits at Newhold, and the diluvial gravel at Lawford, gave great opportunities for collecting fossils, some of which, after sixty years, the writer has now before him, and amongst the numerous collectors the subject of this memoir was not the least active. The specimens which he accumulated were utilised by Dr. Buckland, the late Dean of Westminster, in his "Reliqniæ Diluvianæ," and were ultimately presented to the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

In the autumn of 1824, having been offered the situation of Naturalist in the Blonde Frigate, (of which his eldest brother was Chaplain,) commanded by Captain Lord Byron, which was dispatched by Government to the Sandwich Islands to convey there the bodies of the King and Queen who had died in this country, he at once accepted it. During the voyage, which lasted eighteen months, he had the opportunity of visiting several places both on the eastern and western coasts of South America, and also numerous islands in the great Pacific Ocean, from which he brought home a large collection of objects of Natural History, amongst which were several, at that period, new to science, which, on his return in the year 1826, were deposited in the British Museum. He took Holy Orders a few mouths after his return, and for many years was located in a part of Leicestershire extremely favourable for natural research, where he had the pleasure of association with a very young but intelligent Botanist, now the honoured Professor Churchill Babington, who bade fair to be a shining light in the botanical world, but whose studies have since been diverted to classical and archæological literature, in which he has taken a very prominent position.

Mr. Bloxam's researches were not confined to any one department of Botany or Natural History. His communications on Conchology, Ornithology, Phænogamic and Cryptogamic plants, to leading periodicals were numerous; but, with the exception of his "Fasciculi of British Brambles," which have been appreciated highly by those who regard the greater part as mere forms of one, or perhaps, two species, as well as by those Botanists who look upon every form as distinct, his most useful work was amongst the Fungi, in which his neighbourhood was peculiarly rich. Many of the most interesting species have been recorded in the notices of British Fungi by Messrs. Berkeley and Broome in the "Annals of Natural History," and a very curious genus has been dedicated to him by the same authors. In conjunction with Mr. Churchill Babington be was enabled to furnish a very copious list of the Phænogamous plants growing in Charnwood Forest and its precincts to Mr. T. R. Potter for his history of that district, and in conjunction with his friend, the Rev. W. H. Coleman, he contributed an admirable list to "Potter's History of Leicestershire," which unfortunately has not been published. These were much appreciated by Mr. Watson in his researches on the distribution of Phænogams in the British Isles. His communications were not, however, confined to Phænogams, and we have now before us a plate containing illustrations of two most interesting Agarics, Agaricus Babingtonii and Agaricus Bloxami, of which the letter is one of our most elegant species. It should not be passed by without notice, that in the appendix to the account of the Voyage of H.M.S. Blonde to the Sandwich Islands, published by Mr. Murray. Mr. Bloxam's notes on the Natural History of those islands will be read with much interest.

Through a very constant correspondence took place between the writer of this notice and Mr. Bloxam for some years, there were but two opportunities of personal communication: one in the Herbarium at Kew, and the other at Rugby, on the occasion of the consecration of the new Chapel, after he had left Twycross for Great Harborough. There were, however, many opportunities of having tidings of him, which were all of the most favourable character, showing how he was appreciated not only for his various talents and acquisition of valuable information which always made him a welcome guest, but for that kind and amiable disposition which at Rugby made him a favourite of all who were thrown into communication with him. There is a chalk drawing of him by his uncle. Sir Thomas Lawrence, which was taken in 1824, previous to his starting for the Sandwich Islands. A daguerreotype likeness was engraved for the contemplated History of Leicestershire, which was, however, never published. There is also a water-colour drawing by the late eminent painter, Turner, in the National Gallery, representing the group of the six brothers attending the funeral of their uncle. Sir T. Lawrence.

Mr. Bloxam married Ann, daughter of the Rev. John Roby, of Congerstone, in the county of Leicester, {a descendant of Nehemiah Grew, who in 1671 dedicated the first book of his "Anatomy of Plants" to the celebrated John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester,) and by her had a numerous family.

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