Annie Lorrain Smith
Encyclopedia
Annie Lorrain Smith was a British lichenologist whose Lichens (1921) was an essential textbook for several decades. She was also a mycologist and founder member of the British Mycological Society
, where she served as president for two terms.
Though born in Liverpool
, her family lived in rural Dumfriessshire
where her father Walter was Free Church of Scotland
minister in Half Morton parish
, a few miles north of Gretna Green
. She had several talented siblings, including the pathologist, Professor James Lorrain Smith.
After school in Edinburgh
she went abroad to study French and German, and then worked as a governess. She moved to London
, started studying botany in about 1888 and went to classes at the Royal College of Science
taught by D. H. Scott
. He found work for her at the British Museum
, but she had to be paid from a special fund because women could not be employed there officially. She identified and reported on newly collected fungi, arriving from abroad as well as from the UK, and worked in the museum's cryptogamic herbarium
.
In 1904 she was one of the first women admitted to be Fellows of the Linnaean Society after a change in the society's bye-laws.
Her interest in lichenology expanded in 1906 when she agreed to complete a Monograph of the British Lichens left unfinished on the death of James Crombie. This led to her illustrated Handbook of British Lichens (1921), a key to all known British lichens, unique for the next quarter of a century. In the same year Lichens was published and was quickly established as a classic text.
She was committed to the cause of women's suffrage and women's rights. She went on working for many years and in 1931, when she was nearly seventy-seven, was awarded a civil list
pension "in recognition of her services to botanical science". In 1934 came an OBE: "Miss Annie Lorrain-Smith, F. L. S. For contributions to mycology and lichenology."
She died in London in 1937.
British Mycological Society
The British Mycological Society is a learned society established in 1896 to promote the study of fungi.-Formation:The Society was formed based on the efforts of two local societies, the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Hereford and the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. The curator of the Hereford...
, where she served as president for two terms.
Though born in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, her family lived in rural Dumfriessshire
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...
where her father Walter was Free Church of Scotland
Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)
The Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a schism known as the "Disruption of 1843"...
minister in Half Morton parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, a few miles north of Gretna Green
Gretna Green
Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green has a railway station serving...
. She had several talented siblings, including the pathologist, Professor James Lorrain Smith.
After school in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
she went abroad to study French and German, and then worked as a governess. She moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, started studying botany in about 1888 and went to classes at the Royal College of Science
Royal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Alumni include H. G. Wells and Brian May and are distinguishable by the letters ARCS ...
taught by D. H. Scott
Dukinfield Henry Scott
Dukinfield Henry Scott FRS was a British botanist.The architect Sir George Gilbert Scott was his father...
. He found work for her at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, but she had to be paid from a special fund because women could not be employed there officially. She identified and reported on newly collected fungi, arriving from abroad as well as from the UK, and worked in the museum's cryptogamic herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
.
In 1904 she was one of the first women admitted to be Fellows of the Linnaean Society after a change in the society's bye-laws.
Her interest in lichenology expanded in 1906 when she agreed to complete a Monograph of the British Lichens left unfinished on the death of James Crombie. This led to her illustrated Handbook of British Lichens (1921), a key to all known British lichens, unique for the next quarter of a century. In the same year Lichens was published and was quickly established as a classic text.
She was committed to the cause of women's suffrage and women's rights. She went on working for many years and in 1931, when she was nearly seventy-seven, was awarded a civil list
Civil list
-United Kingdom:In the United Kingdom, the Civil List is the name given to the annual grant that covers some expenses associated with the Sovereign performing their official duties, including those for staff salaries, State Visits, public engagements, ceremonial functions and the upkeep of the...
pension "in recognition of her services to botanical science". In 1934 came an OBE: "Miss Annie Lorrain-Smith, F. L. S. For contributions to mycology and lichenology."
She died in London in 1937.
Work online
Sources
- Mary R. S. Creese, ‘Smith, Annie Lorrain (1854–1937)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 2004; online edn, May 2005, accessed 15 November 2007. (subscription required) - The Scotsman archives
- The Admission of Ladies - postscript to a Linnaean Society biography of Irene Manton by Barry Leadbetter (Blackwell 2004)