History of the Society
The Society adopted its current title of "Surrey Botanical Society" as recently as 2003. The purpose of the change from its earlier title of the "Surrey Flora Committee" was to emphasise the inclusiveness of the group, with all those who have an interest in the recording of wild plants welcome to join. The aims of recording the distribution of plants in the wild, of understanding their ecology and of the conservation of their habitat, remained the same.
Undoubtedly the most active and influential founder of the Society was Ted Lousley who, although a banker by profession, was also a gifted naturalist and became not only a Vice President of the Surrey Trust for Nature Conservation (now the Surrey Wildlife Trust), but also President of the London Natural History Society and President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles (now the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland). On the 26th January 1957 Lousley convened a meeting of Surrey botanists at the Linnaean Society to form a working group to update Salmon's Surrey Flora of 1931. It was this working group that became the Surrey Flora Committee chaired by Lousley and included among its members Oleg Polunin, Ted Wallace, Donald Young, and Barbara Welch who was elected as Secretary.
The Committee held its first field meeting at Effingham on the 12th May 1957 and as field work progressed meetings were attended by other interested botanists who helped and supported the Committee in achieving its aim of publishing an updated Surrey Flora. Each year about seven full-day field meetings were held as well as an AGM and slide show in early spring at which future work was discussed and planned. In 1963 Joyce Smith took over as Secretary and held the position for the next 32 years.
Ted Lousley died in 1976, sadly just before his brainchild the new Flora of Surrey was published. Its completion was undertaken by Cecil Prime, Charles Petch and Ted Wallace. Subsequently, following ten more years of recording meetings, in 1987 Alan Leslie, a former chairman, produced a valuable Supplement and Checklist to the Flora of Surrey, a publication that is still available from the Society Secretary. More recently, Derek Hill took over the Chairmanship from Alan, who was subsequently followed by Paul Bartlett. Currently, Bill Stanworth is Chairman.
In recent years the Society has taken advantage of the opportunities afforded by the digital revolution. Paper based records have been superseded by computer based systems which provide a powerful means of data analysis and also enable the Society's records to be made much more accessible to both the membership and to other organisations. In addition, GPS technology enables plant locations to be mapped with considerable accuracy.
The detailed recording of changes in the composition and distribution of the Surrey flora remains the key activity and there is a continuing emphasis on the protection of our flora by sharing information with other conservation bodies.
The Surrey Floras
Surrey is fortunate in having a continuity of record keeping which spans a period of almost 160 years. The compilation of a County flora, or indeed a local flora, is a monumental task which needs a dedicated team to be successful.
The first County Flora was published as recently as 1863 by John Drew Salmon of Godalming (1802-1859) who assembled material for the publication of a Flora containing 984 native species, by splitting the County into nine divisions based on soils. He died before his manuscript was completed. In 1861 the Holmesdale Natural History Club bought Salmon's manuscript and his collection of plants native to the County (now in the Society's herbarium) and asked James Alexander Brewer (1818-1886), its first Honorary Secretary, to take over Salmon's work and to prepare the Flora for publication by the Society. Other botanists such as John Stuart Mill and H.C.Watson and some members of the Holmesdale Natural History Club made major contributions. Without the Society there might have been an even longer wait for the first Flora.
The second County Flora was the work of an architect, Charles Edgar Salmon (1872 - 1930), but not published until 1931, a year after his death. This Flora is divided into eight districts based on river drainage. It incorporated the work of William Hadden Beeby who handed over his records and manuscripts to Mr. Salmon. After Mr. Salmon's death the Flora was prepared for publication by Mr. W.H.Pearsall. Records were also contributed by such almost legendary botanists as Lady Davy, Dr. G.C.Druce, The Rev. E.F.Linton, The Rev. E.S.Marshall, H.W.Pugsley, The Rev. H.J.Riddelsdell (Rubus) and Colonel Wolley-Dod (Rosa).
Job Edward ("Ted") Lousley (1907-1976) was the author of the third County Flora published in 1976, and was based on records collected by the Surrey Flora Committee 1957-1974. Dr. C.T. Prime and Dr. Petch proofread the typescript and Ted approved the text prior to publication only a few weeks before his death in 1976. Mr Lousley served the Botanical Society of the British Isles as Treasurer, Secretary and President and was associated with the Atlas (1962) and Supplement (1968). It was based on 10km squares and with distribution maps. It was natural that he should use the same bases for the Flora and also the Watsonian Vice-County (VCI7) to define "Surrey" based on boundaries as they were in 1859 - the system used by the BSBI.
Mention should also be made of the 'Supplement and Checklist' by Alan Leslie (1987) providing records supplemental to the 1976 Flora. Almost more valuable than the 1974 Flora, the checklist covers all species that have ever been recorded in Surrey. Also included is a 10km square distribution list for these species as recorded in Surrey from 1950 - 1987. The Supplement and Checklist was updated by the Surrey Flora Committee in 1994. To a field botanist the checklist is the base for all recording and a useful restraining influence when one thinks that one has found something "new"!
In the article by D. E. Allen, Watsonia 24:271-280 (2003), in discussion about the Flora of Surrey by C. E. Salmon published in 1931 he said: "Cases such as these best exemplify the remarkable tenacity that lies behind the compiling of local Floras. For a century and a half now this has been a central activity of field botany in these islands, a way in which the energies of the locally-based - or if not locally-based, at least locally-focused - have been able to be constructively brought to bear on a long-term goal. As a way of imparting a continuity and a sense of direction to the work of a local society (or at any rate of its botanical section) it is an activity that is surely beyond compare. Indeed, without a project of this kind to keep working away at, however distant the ultimate objective, local botanical endeavour would doubtless often have withered or even died away completely."
Published Floras
The New British Traveller, James Dugdale, 1819
History of Epsom, Appendix VIII (Catalogue of Plants). "An inhabitant", 1825
Flora of Reigate, Luxford, G., 1838
The Letters of Rusticus (Environs of Godalming), Appendix A, Rusticus, 1849
New Flora of the Neighbourhood of Reigate, Brewer,J.A, 1856
Flora of Surrey, Brewer, J.A., 1863
A New London Flora, De Crespigny, E.C., 1877
Flora of South-west Surrey, Dunn, S.T.,1893
A Flora of Epsom and its Neighbourhood, Hart Smith-Pearse, 1917
Flora of Surrey, Salmon, C.E., 1931 (First Surrey Flora), 1931
A Study of the Flora of the Hog's Back, The Farnham Museum Society, 1965
Flora of Surrey, Lousley, J. E., 1976
Box Hill, Chapman, G. & Young, B., 1979
The Natural History of Camberley and District, Camberley Natural History Society, 1979
Flora of the London Area, Burton, R.M., 1983
Checklist of the Flora of the Croydon Area, CNHSS, 1985
Flora of Surrey: Supplement & Checklist, Leslie, A.C., 1987
Flora of East Grinstead, Coleman, 1994
Rubus in Surrey, Allen, D. E., 2001
Wild Flowers of Wisley, Phillips, B. & Armitage, J., 2010
The Society adopted its current title of "Surrey Botanical Society" as recently as 2003. The purpose of the change from its earlier title of the "Surrey Flora Committee" was to emphasise the inclusiveness of the group, with all those who have an interest in the recording of wild plants welcome to join. The aims of recording the distribution of plants in the wild, of understanding their ecology and of the conservation of their habitat, remained the same.
Undoubtedly the most active and influential founder of the Society was Ted Lousley who, although a banker by profession, was also a gifted naturalist and became not only a Vice President of the Surrey Trust for Nature Conservation (now the Surrey Wildlife Trust), but also President of the London Natural History Society and President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles (now the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland). On the 26th January 1957 Lousley convened a meeting of Surrey botanists at the Linnaean Society to form a working group to update Salmon's Surrey Flora of 1931. It was this working group that became the Surrey Flora Committee chaired by Lousley and included among its members Oleg Polunin, Ted Wallace, Donald Young, and Barbara Welch who was elected as Secretary.
The Committee held its first field meeting at Effingham on the 12th May 1957 and as field work progressed meetings were attended by other interested botanists who helped and supported the Committee in achieving its aim of publishing an updated Surrey Flora. Each year about seven full-day field meetings were held as well as an AGM and slide show in early spring at which future work was discussed and planned. In 1963 Joyce Smith took over as Secretary and held the position for the next 32 years.
Ted Lousley died in 1976, sadly just before his brainchild the new Flora of Surrey was published. Its completion was undertaken by Cecil Prime, Charles Petch and Ted Wallace. Subsequently, following ten more years of recording meetings, in 1987 Alan Leslie, a former chairman, produced a valuable Supplement and Checklist to the Flora of Surrey, a publication that is still available from the Society Secretary. More recently, Derek Hill took over the Chairmanship from Alan, who was subsequently followed by Paul Bartlett. Currently, Bill Stanworth is Chairman.
In recent years the Society has taken advantage of the opportunities afforded by the digital revolution. Paper based records have been superseded by computer based systems which provide a powerful means of data analysis and also enable the Society's records to be made much more accessible to both the membership and to other organisations. In addition, GPS technology enables plant locations to be mapped with considerable accuracy.
The detailed recording of changes in the composition and distribution of the Surrey flora remains the key activity and there is a continuing emphasis on the protection of our flora by sharing information with other conservation bodies.
The Surrey Floras
Surrey is fortunate in having a continuity of record keeping which spans a period of almost 160 years. The compilation of a County flora, or indeed a local flora, is a monumental task which needs a dedicated team to be successful.
The first County Flora was published as recently as 1863 by John Drew Salmon of Godalming (1802-1859) who assembled material for the publication of a Flora containing 984 native species, by splitting the County into nine divisions based on soils. He died before his manuscript was completed. In 1861 the Holmesdale Natural History Club bought Salmon's manuscript and his collection of plants native to the County (now in the Society's herbarium) and asked James Alexander Brewer (1818-1886), its first Honorary Secretary, to take over Salmon's work and to prepare the Flora for publication by the Society. Other botanists such as John Stuart Mill and H.C.Watson and some members of the Holmesdale Natural History Club made major contributions. Without the Society there might have been an even longer wait for the first Flora.
The second County Flora was the work of an architect, Charles Edgar Salmon (1872 - 1930), but not published until 1931, a year after his death. This Flora is divided into eight districts based on river drainage. It incorporated the work of William Hadden Beeby who handed over his records and manuscripts to Mr. Salmon. After Mr. Salmon's death the Flora was prepared for publication by Mr. W.H.Pearsall. Records were also contributed by such almost legendary botanists as Lady Davy, Dr. G.C.Druce, The Rev. E.F.Linton, The Rev. E.S.Marshall, H.W.Pugsley, The Rev. H.J.Riddelsdell (Rubus) and Colonel Wolley-Dod (Rosa).
Job Edward ("Ted") Lousley (1907-1976) was the author of the third County Flora published in 1976, and was based on records collected by the Surrey Flora Committee 1957-1974. Dr. C.T. Prime and Dr. Petch proofread the typescript and Ted approved the text prior to publication only a few weeks before his death in 1976. Mr Lousley served the Botanical Society of the British Isles as Treasurer, Secretary and President and was associated with the Atlas (1962) and Supplement (1968). It was based on 10km squares and with distribution maps. It was natural that he should use the same bases for the Flora and also the Watsonian Vice-County (VCI7) to define "Surrey" based on boundaries as they were in 1859 - the system used by the BSBI.
Mention should also be made of the 'Supplement and Checklist' by Alan Leslie (1987) providing records supplemental to the 1976 Flora. Almost more valuable than the 1974 Flora, the checklist covers all species that have ever been recorded in Surrey. Also included is a 10km square distribution list for these species as recorded in Surrey from 1950 - 1987. The Supplement and Checklist was updated by the Surrey Flora Committee in 1994. To a field botanist the checklist is the base for all recording and a useful restraining influence when one thinks that one has found something "new"!
In the article by D. E. Allen, Watsonia 24:271-280 (2003), in discussion about the Flora of Surrey by C. E. Salmon published in 1931 he said: "Cases such as these best exemplify the remarkable tenacity that lies behind the compiling of local Floras. For a century and a half now this has been a central activity of field botany in these islands, a way in which the energies of the locally-based - or if not locally-based, at least locally-focused - have been able to be constructively brought to bear on a long-term goal. As a way of imparting a continuity and a sense of direction to the work of a local society (or at any rate of its botanical section) it is an activity that is surely beyond compare. Indeed, without a project of this kind to keep working away at, however distant the ultimate objective, local botanical endeavour would doubtless often have withered or even died away completely."
Published Floras
The New British Traveller, James Dugdale, 1819
History of Epsom, Appendix VIII (Catalogue of Plants). "An inhabitant", 1825
Flora of Reigate, Luxford, G., 1838
The Letters of Rusticus (Environs of Godalming), Appendix A, Rusticus, 1849
New Flora of the Neighbourhood of Reigate, Brewer,J.A, 1856
Flora of Surrey, Brewer, J.A., 1863
A New London Flora, De Crespigny, E.C., 1877
Flora of South-west Surrey, Dunn, S.T.,1893
A Flora of Epsom and its Neighbourhood, Hart Smith-Pearse, 1917
Flora of Surrey, Salmon, C.E., 1931 (First Surrey Flora), 1931
A Study of the Flora of the Hog's Back, The Farnham Museum Society, 1965
Flora of Surrey, Lousley, J. E., 1976
Box Hill, Chapman, G. & Young, B., 1979
The Natural History of Camberley and District, Camberley Natural History Society, 1979
Flora of the London Area, Burton, R.M., 1983
Checklist of the Flora of the Croydon Area, CNHSS, 1985
Flora of Surrey: Supplement & Checklist, Leslie, A.C., 1987
Flora of East Grinstead, Coleman, 1994
Rubus in Surrey, Allen, D. E., 2001
Wild Flowers of Wisley, Phillips, B. & Armitage, J., 2010