William Ick

Welsh botanist and geologist
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroWelsh botanist and geologist
PlacesWales Great Britain United Kingdom
wasScientist Botanist Geologist
Work fieldScience
Gender
Male
Birth1800, Newport, City and County of Newport, Wales, United Kingdom
Death1844 (aged 44 years)
ResidenceBirmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
The details

Biography

The frontispiece, catalogue and one herbarium sheet from Ick's herbarium, held in Birmingham Museums

William Ick (1800 – 23 September 1844) was an English botanist and geologist. In 1837 he won a prize offered by the United Committee of the Birmingham Botanical and Warwickshire Floral Societies for the best herbarium, known as a hortus siccus, of native plants collected within 10 miles (16 km) of Birmingham within a one-year period from 1 August 1836.

Early life

Ick was born at Newport in Shropshire in 1800. In 1803 his family moved to Birmingham. His father was a dealer in skins and hides.

Education

He was awarded a Ph.D. in Geology from a German university.

Career

Ick was a tutor at a school near Warwick before becoming the first curator of the Birmingham Philosophical Institution.

Contribution to botany

In 1835 the United Committee of the Birmingham Botanical and Warwickshire Floral Societies offered a prize for the best herbarium of native plants collected within a 10 miles radius of central Birmingham between 1 August 1836 and 1 August 1837. Ick won this prize with a herbarium of around 320 pressed plants and published his findings. In 1948 Ick's herbarium was presented to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery after being lost for over a century

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 11 Jul 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.