Amelia Griffiths

{{Short description|British phycologist (1768–1858)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Amelia Warren Griffiths | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Amelia Warren Rogers | birth_date = {{birth date |1768|01|14}} | birth_place = Pilton, Devon, UK | death_date = {{death date and age |1858|01|04 |1768|01|14}} | death_place = Torquay, Devon, UK | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | home_town = | other_names = | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Phycologist; collection and description of seaweed (marine algae) | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = A.W.Griffiths | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = William Griffiths | partner =  | children = 5 | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Amelia Griffiths''' (1768–1858), often referred to in contemporary works as '''Mrs Griffiths of Torquay''', was a beachcomber and amateur phycologist who made many important collections of marine algae specimens.<ref name="Gifford1853">{{Cite book|title=The Marine Botanist: An Introduction to the Study of the British Sea-weeds|last=Gifford|first=Isabella| author-link = Isabella Gifford |publisher=R. Folthorp|year=1853|location=Brighton|pages=244}}</ref>

==Personal life== Amelia Warren Rogers was born 14 January 1768 in Pilton, Devon, UK.<ref name="Philip Strange">{{cite web |title=The Queen of Seaweeds - The Story of Amelia Griffiths, an Early 19th Century Pioneer of Marine Botany|url=https://philipstrange.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/the-queen-of-seaweeds-the-story-of-amelia-griffiths-an-early-19th-century-pioneer-of-marine-botany/ |website=Philip Strange Science and Nature Writing |date=19 August 2014 |publisher=Philip Strange|access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Her parents were John and Emily (née Warren) Rogers. She married Rev. William Griffiths, the vicar of St Issey, Cornwall, in 1794, but after his death, she moved her family of five children to Torquay.<ref name="Miniata2018">{{cite web |last1=Miniata |title=Flowers of the Sea - Part 1 |url=https://jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2018/12/flowers-of-sea-part-1.html |website=James Cook University Library}}</ref> She died in Torquay on 4 January 1858.

==Collaboration and dedications== She corresponded with the botanist William Henry Harvey for many years, becoming a close friend. They met at Torquay in 1839.<ref name=Strange2014>{{cite news |last1=Strange |first1=Phillip |title=The Queen of seaweeds |url=https://www.marshwoodvale.com/marshwood-past-issues/ |access-date=1 August 2020 |agency=Marshwood Vale Magazine |issue=August |date=2014}}</ref>

Harvey dedicated his 1849 ''Manual of British Algae'' to her, and once wrote {{blockquote|"If I lean to glorify any one, it is Mrs Griffiths, to whom I owe much of the little acquaintance I have with the variations to which these plants are subject, and who is always ready to supply me with fruits of plants which every one else finds barren. She is worth ten thousand other collectors."<ref name="Praeger 1913">{{cite book | author = Praeger, Robert Lloyd | author-link = Robert Lloyd Praeger | year = 1913 | chapter = William Henry Harvey 1811—1866 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/makersofbritishb00oliv_0/page/204 204–224] | editor = Oliver, Francis Wall | editor-link = Francis Wall Oliver | title = Makers of British botany | url = https://archive.org/details/makersofbritishb00oliv_0| publisher = Cambridge University Press}}</ref>}} Carl Adolph Agardh named ''Griffithsia'' in her honour in 1817.<ref name="Sheffield 2001">{{cite book | title = Revealing new worlds: three Victorian women naturalists | series = Women in science | volume = 3 | author = Suzanne Le-May Sheffield | year = 2001 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-27069-3}}</ref>

One of her servants, Mary Wyatt, became involved in collecting and selling books of seaweeds as part of her business selling collectables and local souvenirs with assistance from Griffiths.<ref name=Strange2014 />

==Described species== Griffiths was the first to describe ''Ceramium agardhianum'' A.W.Griffiths ex Harvey 1841 (now ''C. deslongchampsii)'' and the species ''Ceramium botryocarpum'' in 1844.<ref name="Gifford1853" />

==Collections== She collected a large number of specimens.<ref name="Miniata2018" /> Some were sent to other collectors or scientists while she mounted others in albums herself. After her death, her own herbarium became part of Torquay Museum and there are 3 albums of her specimens in Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum. Others became part of the collections in the British Museum, including 780 British seaweeds purchased in 1852 and 880 specimens presented by the North Devon Athenaeum in 1917. She had also provided material to other collectors and these have also found their way into national collections.<ref name="JSTOR-Global_Plants" />

In 1862 a significant collection of her specimens were presented to the Kew Herbarium by Miss Burdett-Coutts.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Thiselton-Dyer |first=W. T. |date=April 1891 |title=Type-specimens of Mrs. Griffiths |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/317674 |journal=Annals of Botany |language=en |volume=os-5 |issue=2 |pages=228–229 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a090638 |issn=1095-8290 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> At the request of Joseph Dalton Hooker, this collection was curated by phycologist Maria Emma Gray with Gray selected appropriate specimens to represent Griffiths types for algae species.<ref name=":0" /> In recognition for this work Gray received numerous duplicate specimens from the Griffiths collection which she arranged into sets for presentation to scientific and educational institutions.<ref name=":0" /> One such set is held by the Linnean Society.<ref name=":0" />

Griffiths daughter, Amelia Elizabeth Griffiths (1802–1861), also collected seaweeds and some of her collections have been mistaken for those of her mother.<ref name="JSTOR-Global_Plants">{{cite web |title=Griffiths, Amelia Warren (1768-1858) |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000200203 |website=Global Plants - Natural History Museum |publisher=JSTOR |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref>

==See also== *Timeline of women in science

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Amelia}} Category:18th-century British botanists Category:British phycologists Category:1768 births Category:1858 deaths Category:British women botanists Category:Women phycologists Category:19th-century British botanists Category:19th-century British women scientists