Spicer, William Webb, Rev. (1820–1879)

Born in Westminster, England, in 1820, died in Notting Hill, London, England, on 28 April 1879.

A clergyman, resident in Tasmania from about 1874 until April 1878*. While there he was active in the Royal Society, wrote Handbook of the Plants of Tasmania (1878) the first locally produced Flora, and published a number of papers in the Royal Society journal. He collected many introduced plants, shunned by other early collectors, and these are often the earliest records of naturalisations in Tasmania. His Australian collections are in AK, DAO, E, HO, K, LIVU, MANCH and OXF.

Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]

* Note that contemporary newspaper reports indicate that Spicer arrived in Hobart, Tasmania aboard the steamer Southern Cross from Melbourne on 6 January 1875 and departed for Sydney on 23 March 1878 via the same vessel. He then returned to England on the RMS Assam.

Sources for arrival and departure dates:
"Shipping Intelligence", Mercury newspaper (Hobart), 7 Jan. 1875, p. 2. Accessible online at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201484252
"Shipping Intelligence", Mercury newspaper (Hobart), 25 Mar. 1878, p. 2. Accessible online at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8961418
"Religious", Tasmanian newspaper (Launceston), 13 Apr. 1878, p. 12. Accessible online at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/198907893

Collecting localities for 'Spicer, W.W.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 320 specimens