Sherard, William (1659-1728)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0117 MS/252
Held at	: Royal Society   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://royalsociety.org/collections/ ›
Full title	: Sherard, William (1659-1728)
Date(s)	: 1694-1738
Level of description	: Sub-fonds
Extent	: Five volumes, 764 items
Name of creator(s)	: Sherard | William | 1659-1728 | botanist
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in 1659 at Bushby, Leicestershire, educated at Merchant Taylors School, and elected in 1677 to St John's College Oxford where he developed an interest in botany. In 1683 he was elected a law Fellow of St John's College, and in 1694 received the degree of Doctor of Common Law. With the permission of the college, he began a series of foreign tours. He studied botany in Paris under Tournefort (1686-1688) and in 1688 spent time in Leiden with Paul Hermann. The plants he listed in the Swiss Alps, Geneva Roma and Naples were sent to Ray to publish in his 'Stirpium Europeaorum' of 1694, and those from Cornwall and Jersey in his 'Synopsis methodica Stirpium Britannicarum' of 1690. He wa a tutor to Sir Arthur Rawdon, living mainly at Moira, County Down, then tutor to Charles Viscount Townsend on his continental tour, and in 1695 to Wriothesley, eldest son of William Lord Russell in France and Italy. During this period he began his revision of Gaspard Bauhin's 'Pinax', a project which remained unfinished at his death. Until 1702 he was tutor to Henry, second Duke of Beaufort at Badminton. In 1702 he had a short appointment as Commissioner for the Sick and Wounded, and the Exchange of Prisoners, follwed in 1703 with his appointment by the Levant Company as Consul in Smyrna. Here he indulged his botanical and antiquarian interests, collecting plants, copying anitquarian artefacts and collected coins.In 1717 he returned to England a wealthy man. In 1718 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and served on the council for two years. He made three further trips to the continent, in 1721, 1723 and 1727, visiting Boerhaeve in Holland and bringing Dillenius back to asist him with the 'Pinax'. He had been hampered in this by a quarrel with Sir Hans Sloane, who refused him his herbarium, but a reconciliation took place in 1727. Sherard died in 1728, leaving his books, drawings and paintings, and his manuscript of 'Pinax' to the library of the 'Physic Garden' at Oxford, the rest to St John's College. In addition, he left £3000 to establish the Sherardian Chair of Botany, naming Dillenius the first Sherardian professor. Sherard occupied a high position among botanists of his time, although the only work he himself wrote was 'Schola Botanica' (1689).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Correspondence of William Sherard in five volumes, indicating his wide circle of correspondents and showing his generosity in gifts of specimens, seeds, living plants, books and subscriptions. One volume consists of copies of letters from Sherard during his time as Turkey Company's Consul at Smyrna. The great majority of these letters are concerned with botanical subjects: a fair number relate to Greek and Roman coins: a very few are of an official character, and there are some addressed to James Sherard, William's younger brother. There are also many rough drafts of William Sherard's own letters included.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to Archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also MS/88 and MS/108; Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, correspondence and papers; Manuscript Collections, British Library, notes on Asia Minor 1705-1716, Journal of Bernard Mouls of a journey in Asia Minor, undertaken by him and Sherard (1 volume) 1716-1717, 17 letters to James Petiver, 1700-1715, 49 letters to Sir Hans Sloane, 1690-1724.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Copied from the Royal Society catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Feb 2009.