Papers of Frederick Orpen Bower, 1855-1948, botanist

• Correspondence between Bower and colleagues worldwide, 1890-1922
• Material on the administration of Glasgow University Botany Department; correspondence, 1885-1948
• Press cuttings, 1919-1941
• Obituaries, 1948
• Teaching records, 1882-1932
• Testimonials, 1883-1885

Frederick Orpen Bower (1855-1948), researched and published widely on the Pteridophyta, particularly ferns and was one of the principal exponents of the "interpolation theory" of alternation in their life-cycle.

After graduating with a first class degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, England, Bower attended the Universities of Würzburg, Germany, and Strasbourg, France. He returned to take up the position of lecturer in botany at the University College, London, where he made anatomical studies of plants. He was appointed Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow in 1885. He actively enjoyed teaching and under his 40 year direction, the school gained a world-wide reputation for morphological botany. He nurtured an active interest in the new field of palaeobotany highlighting the relationship between modern and fossil plants. He continued to publish after his retirement and his major publications include: The Origin of a Land Flora (1908), The Ferns (1923-1928) and Primitive Land Plants (1935). He acted as Dean of Faculties for the University from 1929-1940.

Bower was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1891 and awarded the Linnean Medal in 1909, the Royal Medal in 1910, and the Darwin Medal in 1938. He was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1919-1924 and the British Association in 1930. He was awarded the ScD by the University of Cambridge, the DSc by Dublin and Sydney and the LLD by the Universities of Aberdeen and Glasgow. His University of Glasgow LLD was awarded in 1925 for his work as professor of botany.

Source: The NAHSTE Project which used Gillispie, Charles C., "Dictionary of Scientific Biography" , vol ii  (United States, Scribner, 1972) ; ; Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Encyclopaedia Britannica, A New Survey of Universal Knowledge" , Vol 4  (Chicago, William Benton, 1964) "The Concise Dictionary of National Biography, From Earliest Times to 1985" , vol. ii and iii  (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992)

The collection was listed at item level by the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists . Some minor alterations have been made at the University of Glasgow to bring the numbering into line with the other deposited collections. The original alphanumeric reference system has been replaced as follows: DC 002/A/1 has been replaced with DC 002/12/1, DC 002/B/1 with DC 002/13/1, etc. Minor additions to the collection have also been made since the papers were first catalogued.

Access to records within this collection is open, however an appointment may be required. Please email Archives and Special Collections for advice: library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk

Deposit: Glasgow University Botany department: 1970

Deposit: Professor Charles Chesters (Additional deposit)

Deposit: Professor Alastair Wardlaw (Additional deposit)

Transfer: Glasgow University Library Special Collections Department: 1981 : ACCN 0220

Deposit: Professor A D Boney: 1993: ACCNs 1256, 1281

Gift: Professor Wilkins: 1998: ACCN 1740

See also University of Glasgow Collections

File list available. Please email Archives & Special Collections to request a copy: library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk

Manual file level list available at the National Registers of Archives in Edinburgh (NRA(S)1022) and London (NRA18906)

No known copies

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of documents. Applications for permission to quote should be sent to Archives and Special Collections, please email: library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk

This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 248 procedures

Most of the papers were found in a cupboard in Professor Malcolm B Wilkins office, Glasgow University Botany Department in 1970. They were transferred to the Glasgow University Archives Department soon after. There were subsequent deposits from Professor Charles Chesters of his correspondence with Professor Bower (DC 002/15/42/1-11) and from Professor Alastair Wardlaw of Bower's lecture notes for 1911, lent to Professor Wardlaw's father who was assistant to Bower and subsequently undertook the revision of Bower's book Botany of the Living Plant (1919).

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