Notes for a Case Study of a Local Warwick Family, Composer and Botanist
© 2006 Edwin Macadam, Oxford.
NB: This page is updated from time to time to include references and further information as it comes to light.
Part 1: William Perry, William Perry and William Groves Perry
William Perry (I) was likely to have been born c. 1740 in Kidderminster. He married Jane Allen, also likely to have been born in Kidderminster c. 1743. Their marriage was at St Mary’s Church in Kidderminster on 27th August 1764.
They had three children:
- William (II) Perry, christened in St Mary’s Church, Kidderminster, on 5th June 1765.
- John Perry, christened in St Mary’s on 17th January 1768.
- Caroline Perry. She was presumably christened at the same church, having been born in Kidderminster on 2nd June 1771. Caroline then likely wed Gabriel Evans in Kidderminster on 5th July 1802.
It may be that William (I)’s wife, Jane, then died, for on 3rd December 1776, in Kidderminster at St Mary’s, a William Parry married an Elizabeth Sines, and they had two traceable children:
- John Parry, who was christened in Kidderminster 19 September 1777, married Mary Roberts, a Baptist, in Kidderminster on 25th May 1803, and died there in October 1837. He was a weaver by trade, and his family appear to have stayed in Kidderminster.
- Mary Perry, who was christened in Kidderminster on 24th January 1782.
‘Parry’ and ‘Perry’ appear interchangeable throughout, depending on the whim and accent of the recorder. There is therefore a little doubt as to whether this indeed is the same person, especially as there would have been two sons by the name of John alive at the same time. Unusual but, again, not unknown.
The burial place of William (I) has not so far been traced, but the two boys William (II) Perry and John Perry obviously travelled to Warwick at some point during their early lives and met two sisters, whom they married in St Mary’s Church in Warwick; William (then aged 29) married the elder sister Maria Ann Groves on 7th July 1794, and John (also then aged about 29) married the younger sister, Sarah Groves, on 16th July 1797. The girls’ parents were William and Sarah Groves, who had been married in Shipston-on-Stour on 16th July 1797, and who, again, must have travelled to the expanding town of Warwick in the late eighteenth century. By these two marriages, the dynasties of the Groves Perrys were created. Interestingly, there was also another Groves Perry family in Birmingham at about the same time, but no links can be traced to it, and it must therefore be assumed as entirely coincidental.
From records existing, it would appear that these two families were not poor, for they both owned property, the Groves in Shipston-on-Stour, and the Perrys in Stratford, and later on in Warwick and Leamington.
In 1796, William (III) Groves Perry was born to William and Maria Ann (frequently also written as Mary Ann). John and Sarah were not far behind, although with a much larger family of nine children, starting with:
- Maria Ann on 27th August 1798
- Sarah Groves in 1799, who died as a baby
- John in 1801
- (another) Sarah Groves in 1802
- Catharine in 1804
- Elizabeth in 1806
- William in 1808
- Richard in 1810, and finally
- Samuel in 1812.
All these children were christened at the Cow Lane Chapel in Warwick, which subsequently itself became rechristened the Brook Street Chapel when many roads were renamed as a result of early redevelopment of the then town centre.
John’s allegiance must have been to Stratford on Avon, as William (II) and John together had registered a printing press there in 1803, and where they also ran the Shakespeare Circulating Library. It is interesting to note that many of John’s children were christened for a second time at the Rother Street Chapel in Stratford, the last two, Richard and Samuel, being re-christened together there on 24th July 1815.
William (II) then registered a printing press in Warwick in 1807, where he had set up his own business premises in the Women’s Market, North Side, up against the south wall of the county gaol. [Immanuel’s Ground practice in the North Street Methodist church, immediately on the opposite side of the same building]. The premises comprised a dwelling house, yard and outhouse, where presumably the press was set up. In 1806, William is also recorded in the Warwick Town Census as being the proprietor and occupier of premises in the Women’s Market, North Side, and presumably was entitled to vote as a result of his ownership of this property.
It is known that he also had a bookshop, and subsequently he moved to Old Square, Warwick in about 1820-21, the time when disaster struck the family business of Perry, Hill & Co. This was a worsted manufactory in the Saltisford area of Warwick (roughly where Sainsbury’s now is). Along with others in the area, the business went bankrupt in 1820/21, even though it may well only have been set up some 25 years before, at the time when several other similar factories in that area of Warwick came into existence; quite possibly this was at about the same time as the Perry family came to Warwick.
William II (presumably not William I) and William Groves were partners in that firm, along with Samuel Hill and . . . Pinkstone, and as a result of the bankruptcy, they all had to put their entire personal possessions into trust for the benefit of the firm’s creditors. The Deed setting up the Trust is dated 1821 and was from William Perry, to Richard Tomes and John Russell, bankers, William Collins, woolstapler, and Walter Hill, draper, all of Warwick, of a house, with buildings and premises, in [the Market Place] Warwick, late in the occupation of William Perry and now of William Rose; a house, with buildings and premises, in Leamington, in the occupation of Charles Laurence; a house in the High St., Stratford-upon-Avon, late in the occupation of John Perry; four leasehold cottages in Mill St., Shipston-upon-Stour; and three cottages at the back of New St., Shipston-upon-Stour.
This assignment in trust for the benefit of creditors, from Perry, Hill, and Co. to the same party, of all their personal estate.
It would seem that the premises referred to in Shipston may well have been previously owned by the Groves family and came into possession of the Perry family as a result of the two marriages.
In 1822, the premises in the Market Place were let to William Rose, also carrying out the business of a stationer, for a term of 12 years at a rent of £70 per annum. It is suspected that Rose may have been a partner in the printing business with William Perry and was granted a tenancy as a precautionary measure, but at the same time the Trustees agreed to sell the property, subject to the tenancy, to a Thomas Rose, gent, it then being described as being
“situate on the north side of the Market Place, between a house in the tenure of William Bond to the east, and a house in the tenure of Henry Baly to the west, and also 95 sq ft of ground on which stands an outhouse, the whole backing onto the gaol.”
The price agreed to be paid was £1,200, of which £900 was required to pay off the mortgagee, Henry Haines, and the balance went to his creditors. This sale, however, appears not to have been completed, for it was finally sold in 1825 (1829?) after auction particulars had been prepared, to Henry Baly, William’s next door neighbour, for the same figure.
The same auction particulars in 1823 also included the
“Worsted Factory, lately in the occupation of Messrs Perry, Hill & Co., a house with 2½ (acres?) of land adjoining the factory; a house with outbuildings and a yard, situate in the Market Place Stratford-upon-Avon the property of the Trustees of William Perry.”
By 1841, William (I) and Mary Ann (both “aged 70” – an approximation as the figures were all rounded to the nearest 5 or 10 years) are recorded as living in the Saltisford, in Warwick. William (I) was described as “Book Keeper,” and the Burial Register of the Brook Street Chapel notes that “William Perry, New Street, Gentleman, died 2nd June 1843 and was buried in the Chapel on 6th June 1843.” His wife Mary Ann moved permanently to their son’s house in New Street, and is recorded as dying there. ‘Book Keeper’ in this context is thought not to refer to accountancy, but, literally, to a keeper of books, bearing in mind his probable connection with his son’s bookshop.
William (III) Groves Perry
Turning again to their son, William (III) Groves Perry, he was a noted amateur botanist, and he is recorded in an 1891 book by Bagnall about the flora of Worcestershire as “a truly enthusiastic botanist,” “an able linguist, well skilled in mathematics, and an accomplished musician,” and also as “an amiable man, always ready to lend a helping hand.” Bagnall, in dealing with Perry’s early life and before going on to describe his botanical research in both Warwickshire and Worcestershire, states that he was a bookseller in the High Street.
His botanical researches started at the age of 16, when in 1812 he visited Hampton Magna, near Evesham, and in 1813 the Worcester / Bevere / Ombersley / Kidderminster area, where apparently he was searching for a new plant, a national rarity, the Twiggy Mullein, Verbascum virgatum, which had been found and noted by another botanist in an earlier publication in 1787. His notes of his researches and finds are in the Warwick Museum, as is his Herbarium, and he is credited with having made the only known records of the flora of many wetland sites in both Warwickshire and Worcestershire. His interest in botany was lifelong; he was still collecting plants and making records in 1856, seven years before he died.
In this respect, he was an early Secretary to the Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society (which was formed in 1838), and keeper of their herbarium curator of their museum from 1840. He compiled a catalogue of the Warwick Library in 1847.
He would have been brought up in an atmosphere of books and music, for his father seems to have had musical abilities and may have been organist at the Brook Street Chapel before his son took over that task. He must also at the age of 24 have been badly affected by the demise of the worsted factory and by losing many of his possessions to pay the outstanding debts. It is doubtful that he ever recovered from this, for his will when proved in 1863 showed that his possessions were worth less than £450. This shows that in all probability he was only the tenant of the house in New Street, which was the family home not only up until the time of his death, but also that of his wife, Mary.
He was married to Mary Hawkes, a girl from Coventry where she was christened in St Mary’s Priory & Cathedral on 4th Aug 1798. The wedding took place on 11th August 1823 in St Mary’s Church in Warwick, and their daughter Sarah was born on 22nd November the same year. Obviously wanting a son to call William, their next child was a girl whom they called Wilhelmena Cecelia, she being born on 4 Jun 1825. The long-awaited son William (IV) was born on 2nd February 1827, but died seven weeks later. All these children were baptised in the Cow Lane Chapel, later to be called the Brook Street Chapel.
Pigot & Co’s National Commercial Directory for 1828-29 still lists William Groves as being a Music Seller in the Market Place, and also notes him at the same address as being a Professor or Teacher of “geography, mathematics, writing, etc.” He was not, however, one of the voters noted as living in Warwick in William West’s History… of Warwickshire [1830], presumably because, as noted before, he did not own the house he was living in. His parents were in the Saltisford, their address being given.
| Surname | First Name | Occupation | Address | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PERRY | Sarah | Dressmaker | Brook St, Warwick | 675 |
| PERRY | Wm. | – | Saltisford, Warwick | 675 |
| PERRY | Wm. | Weighing Machine Ho. | Saltisford, Warwick | 678 |
| PERRY | Wm. Groves | Music Prof | Academy, Market Square, Warwick | 675 |
as ‘Weighing Machine House’, suggesting that there was still a connection with the old factory premises, possibly that they had been allowed to remain there, and later in 1841 William Groves is found also to be back in the Saltisford before he moved to New Street, for his wife died on 27th October 1834 and was buried in . . . (?)
He moved to New Street some time before 1845, when he is recorded in the Post Office Directory for that year as being both Bookseller and Stationer. ‘New house, new baby’ goes the saying, but perhaps a wife first? Certainly so, for in 1861 William Groves is living with another Mary, aged 43 and 23 years his junior. She was Mary Spikes, born and christened in Birmingham in about 1818. They had with them William (VI) T[homas] aged 9, and Mary G[roves] aged 8. William was born in 1852 and Mary on 9th January 1853. What is not recorded by the 1851 and 1861 censuses is the fact that in the mean while there had been yet another William (V) who was actually christened William Groves Linnaeous Perry, after a famous botanist of the day; he was born on 25th May 1850, but died in September of the same year.
William Groves Perry died on 25th March 1863 in his house in New Street, Warwick, and his brief obituary in the Warwick Gazette that same week describes him as an Alderman, a local person well respected and loved, and the organist at the Chapel. He was buried in the Chapel Yard in Brook Street, where presumably he remains buried even though the Chapel itself has been redeveloped as the offices of a local firm of architects.
The 1881 census records his second wife Mary living in Old Square, Warwick, with her unmarried daughter Mary as a Teacher of Music, and her son William T A Perry as a bank clerk. She was obviously carrying on the family business as a Bookseller & Stationer, and was employing 1 Woman & 1 Boy, as well as having a female servant aged 21 called Hannah.
And what of his music? Apart from his botanical records and publications, outlined below, he appears to have been involved in musical circles generally other than just as the organist of the Cow Lane Chapel.
In 1815 he published a Catalogue of the ‘Warwick and Leamington Musical Library’ consisting of an extensive collection of vocal and instrumental music, ready for circulation, price 1s.
In 1816 he published New Music for 1816 at the Musical Library, Warwick . . . composed and adapted by W G Perry . . . Slavonian Paternoster, as performed in the service of the Russian Greek Church 1s, Hymn to Russian Music, 1s, Harvest Home 1s 6d.
His main musical work was
Original Sacred Melodies, consisting of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Pieces etc., by W. Perry, arranged for four voices, with a separate accompaniment for the Organ or Pianoforte by W. G. Perry. London, Clementi & Co., sold by W. G. Perry, Warwick. 12/-
The accompaniment was really only a reduction of the voice parts into two systems suitable for use at the keyboard, although the book included a setting of Vital Spark (the first piece), four other set pieces and 53 hymns, some or all of which were presumably his father’s compositions, although arranged by him. The words are mainly by Rippon, Watts, and Burder, who presumably was the then minister at the West Orchard Chapel at Coventry.
The debate is when this was actually published, as the British Library catalogue has it as being ‘c. 1820 ?’ An advertisement for this book appeared in the Warwick Advertiser on 31st October 1829 stating:
“Perry’s Original Sacred Melodies. The last number of this work is in the hands of the engraver and a list of the subscribers will be given in that number . . . those who wish to subscribe on the Original Terms please forward their names to W G Perry, market Place, Warwick. Subscription price of the complete work 12s.”
Thus it would seem that the work had been published in separate parts over a period of time, and that the final Subscription Edition only appeared as late as 1829 or early 1830.
Subscribers’ List
A study of the list of Subscribers is quite rewarding, as it shows the type of people who subscribed for copies (and thereby helped with the cost of publication) and the churches and chapels into which it passed. Thus in 1820 it would seem that there was a strong Society of Singers in Warwick based in the High Street Chapel, another Society in the Wesleyan Chapel, and yet a third Society at West Orchard Chapel, Coventry.
Within the musical world, as to organists, both Edmund Tims of Hampton Lucy and Henry T Elliston at Leamington had two copies, and John Elston at Hatton had one, whilst several self-styled Professors of Music also had single copies – Samuel Deacon of Leicester; Charles Elston and John Hewett of Leamington; Frederick Marshall (also organist) of Leamington; James Marshall (another organist) of Warwick; William Marshall & Son of Leamington and Oxford; and John Satchell Jnr. of Warwick. James Merridew was a music seller in Warwick, and Owen Owen the same in Leamington. A Mr Bernard, organ builder at Stratford on Avon also had a single copy, whilst on a higher level, seven copies each were sold to John Pearson of Foleshill (Coventry) and John Russell of Kidderminster.
The Brook Street Chapel (originally Cow Lane Chapel), Warwick
A study of Non-Conformity in Warwick gives an interesting snapshot in time and somewhat of an insight into the musical and spiritual life of its various churches and chapels. As a result of the Presbyterian Minister’s Arianism, a small Congregational element separated from its parent church in Church Street (then the High Street) in about the middle of the eighteenth century. It met first in a room in the (then) High Street, following which a chapel was built about 1758 in Cow Lane, now called Brook Street. Thus it was that the Brook Street Chapel was born, which eventually became the spiritual home of William Perry, and presumably his son.
In 1760 the house of Henry Collins was registered for worship by the independents[1], and in 1784 Thomas Collins gave a room to be used as a vestry for the chapel[2]. The chapel was enlarged a number of times, and a still larger chapel was built on the site in 1826[3], which still exists today (see photograph). Now taken over as an office for a firm of Architects, it once contained a gallery on three sides supported on slender pillars, and there were originally Regency style wall decorations. The principle elevation was designed by Thomas Stedman Whitwell.
The old Congregational Church, Brook Street, Warwick, where William Perry was Quiremaster and Organist.
The Wesleyan Chapel, Warwick
Methodism was introduced into Warwick by a lay preacher from Yorkshire in about 1801, and the house of Henry Chlist in Castle Street was licensed by him and eight others for worship in 1804. Six of these eight also had a licence for a malthouse in Gaol Lane in 1805, and by 1810 the room in Henry Chlist’s house was still in use for meetings. A Wesleyan Chapel was built in Chapel Street in 1830, but this was sold in 1834 as a result of declining membership, and became the Borough National School. However, it was to this congregation that William Perry sold copies of the book of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, which hopefully they took with them when the new chapel was built in 1839 on land called Lower Fryers in Stand Street.
With the spread of Methodism, a further chapel was built in Avon Street in about 1840; this was rebuilt in 1863, and was still in use in 1965. The Stand Street Chapel was used until 1863, when it was replaced by a chapel in Market Street, and two years later a further chapel was licensed in Bowling Green Street. Both were replaced by the new building in Northgate in 1893, which is where Immanuel’s Ground practice today. The Stand Street chapel was then taken over in 1864 by the Primitive Methodists, (who had formed in Warwick by about 1850), and used it until the chapel was closed in 1935.
The High Street Chapel, Warwick
The other chapel in Warwick where William Perry introduced his music was the High Street chapel. This appears to have been the Presbyterian chapel, built as a meeting House in 1781 on land given to the congregation in exchange for a converted house which was absorbed into the grounds of Warwick Castle. The new chapel was registered in the name of Samuel Clemens in 1781. The congregation had been Unitarian since the mid-18th century, apparently following the doctrines of James Kettlewell, who was their minister from 1746 to 1785. With rising congregations, the chapel was enlarged in 1863 in a Gothic style with gable ends of stone ashlar.
The West Orchard Street Chapel, Coventry
A split occurred in the Vicar Lane congregation in Coventry in 1776 following the election of a minister who did not have their full support. Those who broke away assembled in various private houses under their chosen minister, John Griffiths, until 1777 when they built a small chapel at West Orchard, which seated about 300 people. After some three years vacancy Rev’d George Burder was appointed in 1783[4]; his enthusiasm as a preacher soon attracted new members to the chapel congregation and, as a result, galleries had to be erected in 1783-84[5]. In 1787 the chapel was further enlarged to seat about 600[6]. Bombed during World War II, the Chapel was rebuilt as the West Orchard United Reformed Church at the Chesils, Styvechale, in Coventry.
1 G.R.O. Worship returns vol. vii, no. 119.
2 Kemp, History of Warwick, p 169.
3 Collection of letters and memoirs by J. Moody – minister 1781-1801, in Birmingham Reference Library 516405.
4 Sibree and Caston, Indep. in Warws. 82-85, 88-89.
5 Ibid. 85-86, 89.
6 Poole, Cov. 235.
Notes:
Listen to examples of William Perry’s hymns (midi files) :
Barrels
Lutterworth
Mount Ararat
My grateful thanks to all who have helped in this research, especially my wife Sheila, Tricia Entwistle and Richard Chamberlain-Brothers. Also to Immanuel’s Ground, Warwick’s West Gallery Quire, who unwittingly have acted as guinea-pigs in a revival of some of Perry’s original sacred melodies.
William Groves Perry’s botanical publications:
PERRY,W.G., A Select List of Plants found in Warwickshire. Appeared in Dugdale’s Warwickshire, 1817.
PERRY,W.G., Manuscript notes interleaved in Perry’s personal copy of Plantae Varvicenses Selectae, compiled c.1823-1839.
PERRY,W.G., Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History Vol.IV., 1831, p.450.
Part 2: William Groves Perry
BIOGRAPHIES OF WORCESTERSHIRE BOTANISTS
NO.1. WILLIAM GROVES PERRY 1796 – 1863
Summary:
Whilst much of this relates to William G Perry’s botanical interests—and they were numerous—several passages in it contain a fascinating glimpse of the man himself and detail where he was at certain times in his busy life. – ELM
J J Day
Perry was a Warwick man. He published several significant works on the flora of Warwickshire and was, in his day, one of its leading botanical authorities. His Warwickshire work is well documented by Bagnall, 1891, pp.494-502, and Cadbury et al., 1971, pp.52-54. His activities relating to Worcestershire botany are less well known. This note seeks to fill that gap.
Perry was born in Warwick and was a bookseller in the High Street. The Warwickshire Natural History & Archaeological Society was formed in 1838; he was secretary for many years and keeper of their Herbarium from 1841/1842. After his death, his own herbarium was incorporated into that of the Society. His principal collection is now housed in Warwick Museum (Bagnall 1891; Cadbury 1971).
Bagnall (1891) describes Perry as “a truly enthusiastic botanist”, “an able linguist, well skilled in mathematics, and an accomplished musician” and as “an amiable man, and always ready to lend a helping hand”.
He took up the study of botany early in life. He left notes and specimens from 1812. His first published list (for Warwickshire) was in 1817 (Perry 1817).
His first Worcestershire contribution was early. It is a good one. There is a specimen in Warwick Museum of Clinopodium ascendens, from Hampton Magna, Evesham, collected in 1812, when he was 16. This remains the sole record for hectad SP04.
Perry’s Published Records Relating to Worcestershire
Perry, W.G., Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History Vol.IV., 1831, p.450. A list of the rarer plants of Worcester, dated Warwick March 12 1830. 128 records.
Leighton, W.A., Flora of Shropshire, 1841; Leighton acknowledges Perry as a correspondent. 26 records from Wyre Forest area attributed to Perry. The precise locations indicate that the majority of records are from Worcestershire.
Bagnall, J.E., Flora of Warwickshire, 1891. Single record (Perry 1839), from Ipsley in vice-county 38.
Newman, E., Phytologist Vol.I, March 1843, pp.508, 512-514, A List of the Ferns and Fern Allies from the counties of Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester, contributed by the Editor Edward Newman, from various sources. Perry contributed Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis from Moseley. This is cited in Lees, E., Botany of Worcestershire, 1867.
Total number of published Worcestershire records: 157
In addition to the published sources, Perry’s herbarium is in Warwick Museum. The catalogue of the Warwick collection lists 118 sheets of Perry’s relating to vc37 (Copson, P. c1990).
Total traced Worcestershire records: 275 (38 published records are duplicated by herbarium material). These contain records for 133 species. Of these, 50 species are the earliest traced county record.
W.G. Perry’s Visits to Worcestershire
Perry was a frequent visitor to Worcestershire. The following is a tabulation, in chronological order, of Perry’s visits.
- 1812 Hampton Magna, Evesham
- 1813 Worcester / Bevere / Ombersley / Kidderminster
- 1816-1839 Kidderminster / Wyre Forest area :-
- 2 August – 18 September 1816
- 15 June 1821
- 22 June – 27 July 1823 also Abberley
- 26 March 1827
- 22 June – 7 July 1827
- 10 June – 13 June 1829 also Abberley
- 28 May 1832
- 28 May 1833
- 16 July – 22 July 1834
- 25 July 1836
- 23 June 1837
- June 1839
- pre-1839 Ipsley
- 29 January 1841 Malvern
- 9 September 1841 Worcester
- 21 September 1841 Malvern & Worcester
- pre-1842 Moseley
- 30 June 1856 Bromsgrove (probably Lickey Hills)
The visit to Worcester, 1813
The 1813 records are of interest. It appears probable that they resulted from a single visit over a couple of days. This can be reconstructed from his herbarium specimens. The youthful, he was 17, and, apparently energetic Perry had the opportunity to visit Worcester in the mid to late summer of 1817. He, very likely, came in search of a new plant, a national rarity, the Twiggy Mullein, Verbascum virgatum.
In Withering’s Botanical Arrangement 1787, the editor Dr. J. Stokes (who named the species) published a record for V. virgatum. He gives precise details of location: “The side of the Turnpike road from Worcester to Ombersley, opposite to the lane leading to Beverley.” It appears that Perry held a copy of this or a later edition.
He collected a specimen from the roadside at Bevere. It seems he had an early start, for he had already collected Snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus, from the Cathedral Walls in Worcester. Having secured his rare Mullein, he went north towards Ombersley, collecting from by the roadside Wood Spurge, perhaps at Bourne’s Dingle, where it still survives. Reaching Ombersley Common (its demise is documented by Hastings 1832), with its giant chestnut trees, he began to explore; he found the Spreading Bellflower, a wood-pasture speciality of Worcestershire (it would be another four years before he secured a Warwickshire specimen, Bagnall 1891). Then, in the way of a good field botanist, he hunted out the wet spots. He discovered and left record of a mesotrophic assemblage, currently extinct to the county. Perry’s records are our sole source of knowledge of this site and its native fen communities.
Having secured his rarities, he appears to have proceeded hot-foot, as far as Kidderminster, where he collected Erica tetralix and Eriophorum angustifolium from a lost bog, near to Round Hill Bridge.
His vasculum was full of new and exciting captures; it had been a red-letter day, he determined to return.
1813
| Location | Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|---|
| Worcester Cathedral | Antirrhinum majus | Snapdragon |
| A449 near Beaver | Verbascum virgatum | Twiggy Mullein |
| A449 Ombersley | Euphorbia amygdaloides ssp. amygdaloides | Wood Spurge |
| Ombersley | Campanula patula | Spreading Bellflower |
| Oldfield Fen | Baldellia ranunculoides | Lesser Water-plantain |
| Pedicularis sylvatica | Lousewort | |
| Potentilla palustris | Marsh Cinquefoil | |
| Falling Sands Common Kidderminster | Erica cinerea | Bell Heather |
| Erica tetralix | Cross-leaved Heath | |
| Eriophorum angustifolium | Common Cottongrass |
Kidderminster / Wyre Forest Area 1816 – 1839
The 1813 excursion seems to have sparked Perry’s botanical enthusiasm. The sandstone country around Kidderminster was novel terrain for a Warwickshire botanist but close enough to visit regularly. Over the period between 1816 and 1839, Perry visited the area on at least twelve occasions. Several visits extended over one or two-week periods. The dated labels on his herbarium specimens, from the years 1816 and 1827, arranged in chronological order, not only provide a diary of his excursions in the Kidderminster area but also indicate the range and pattern of his activities:
| Date | Scientific Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 02 AUG 1816 | Scleranthus annuus | Kidderminster |
| 03 AUG 1816 | Drosera rotundifolia | Falling Sands Bog |
| 03 AUG 1816 | Epilobium palustre | Falling Sands Bog |
| 03 AUG 1816 | Epilobium roseum | Kidderminster |
| 05 AUG 1816 | Triglochin palustre | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 06 AUG 1816 | Cirsium palustre | Kidderminster |
| 06 AUG 1816 | Epilobium parviflorum | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 06 AUG 1816 | Epilobium tetragonum | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Athyrium filix-femina | Kidderminster |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Cystopteris fragilis | Kidderminster |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Cystopteris fragilis | Bewdley |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Rumex maritimus | Stack Pool |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Spergularia rubra | Kidderminster |
| 08 AUG 1816 | Anagallis tenella | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 09 AUG 1816 | Dianthus deltoides | Blackstone Rock |
| 09 AUG 1816 | Hypericum montanum | Blackstone Rock |
| 12 AUG 1816 | Blechnum spicant | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 12 AUG 1816 | Potentilla argentea | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 12 AUG 1816 | Verbascum blattaria | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 18 SEP 1816 | Dipsacus pilosus | Blackstone Rock |
| 26 MAR 1827 | Juncus squarrosus | Devils Spittleful |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Deschampsia flexuosa | Sutton Common |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Lithospermum arvense | Sutton Common |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Nardus stricta | Sutton Common |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Senecio sylvaticus | Stour Hill |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Viola arvensis | Kidderminster |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Dryopteris dilatata | Bewdley |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Equisetum palustre | Kidderminster |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Luzula sylvatica | Blackstone Rock |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Melica uniflora | Blackstone Rock |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Ceratocapnos claviculata | Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Cornus sanguinea | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Deschampsia flexuosa | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Marrubium vulgare | Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Polygala vulgaris | Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Hieracium sp. | Habberley Valley |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Hypericum androsaemum | Habberley Valley |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Trifolium striatum | Pekket Rock |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Vaccinium myrtillus | Pekket Rock |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Pedicularis sylvatica | Trimpley |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Sorbus domestica | New Parks Wyre Forest |
| 26 JUN 1827 | Eriophorum latifolium | Park Brook Bogs |
| 26 JUN 1827 | Sorbus aucuparia | Wyre Forest |
| 26 JUN 1827 | Trifolium striatum | Bewdley to Tenbury Wells Road |
| 29 JUN 1827 | Athyrium filix-femina | Fenny Rough |
| 29 JUN 1827 | Carex remota | Fenny Rough |
| 04 JUL 1827 | Eleocharis palustris | Stack Pool |
| 06 JUL 1827 | Rumex maritimus | Stack Pool |
| 07 JUL 1827 | Hypericum montanum | Abberley Common |
| 07 JUL 1827 | Ranunculus hederaceus | Abberley Hill Flush |
| 07 JUL 1827 | Stachys arvensis | Between Dunley and Abberley Hill |
| Date | Scientific Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 02 AUG 1816 | Scleranthus annuus | Kidderminster |
| 03 AUG 1816 | Drosera rotundifolia | Falling Sands Bog |
| 03 AUG 1816 | Epilobium palustre | Falling Sands Bog |
| 03 AUG 1816 | Epilobium roseum | Kidderminster |
| 05 AUG 1816 | Triglochin palustre | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 06 AUG 1816 | Cirsium palustre | Kidderminster |
| 06 AUG 1816 | Epilobium parviflorum | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 06 AUG 1816 | Epilobium tetragonum | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Athyrium filix-femina | Kidderminster |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Cystopteris fragilis | Kidderminster |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Cystopteris fragilis | Bewdley |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Rumex maritimus | Stack Pool |
| 07 AUG 1816 | Spergularia rubra | Kidderminster |
| 08 AUG 1816 | Anagallis tenella | Bog by Fenny Rough |
| 09 AUG 1816 | Dianthus deltoides | Blackstone Rock |
| 09 AUG 1816 | Hypericum montanum | Blackstone Rock |
| 12 AUG 1816 | Blechnum spicant | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 12 AUG 1816 | Potentilla argentea | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 12 AUG 1816 | Verbascum blattaria | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 18 SEP 1816 | Dipsacus pilosus | Blackstone Rock |
| 26 MAR 1827 | Juncus squarrosus | Devils Spittleful |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Deschampsia flexuosa | Sutton Common |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Lithospermum arvense | Sutton Common |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Nardus stricta | Sutton Common |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Senecio sylvaticus | Stour Hill |
| 22 JUN 1827 | Viola arvensis | Kidderminster |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Dryopteris dilatata | Bewdley |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Equisetum palustre | Kidderminster |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Luzula sylvatica | Blackstone Rock |
| 23 JUN 1827 | Melica uniflora | Blackstone Rock |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Ceratocapnos claviculata | Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Cornus sanguinea | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Deschampsia flexuosa | Foxholes Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Marrubium vulgare | Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Polygala vulgaris | Kidderminster |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Hieracium sp. | Habberley Valley |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Hypericum androsaemum | Habberley Valley |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Trifolium striatum | Pekket Rock |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Vaccinium myrtillus | Pekket Rock |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Pedicularis sylvatica | Trimpley |
| 25 JUN 1827 | Sorbus domestica | New Parks and Wyre Forest |
| 26 JUN 1827 | Eriophorum latifolium | Park Brook Bogs |
| 26 JUN 1827 | Sorbus aucuparia | Wyre Forest |
| 26 JUN 1827 | Trifolium striatum | Bewdley to Tenbury Wells Road |
| 29 JUN 1827 | Athyrium filix-femina | Fenny Rough |
| 29 JUN 1827 | Carex remota | Fenny Rough |
| 04 JUL 1827 | Eleocharis palustris | Stack Pool |
| 06 JUL 1827 | Rumex maritimus | Stack Pool |
| 07 JUL 1827 | Hypericum montanum | Abberley Common |
| 07 JUL 1827 | Ranunculus hederaceus | Abberley Hill Flush |
| 07 JUL 1827 | Stachys arvensis | Between Dunley and Abberley Hill |
The maps of Perry’s Worcestershire records indicate that he covered the ground around Kidderminster and Bewdley, in some detail.
W.G.Perry Worcestershire Records are mapped below
Map shows Perry records allocated to tetrads (2×2 km squares) of the national grid.
Map shows Perry records allocated to monads (1×1 km squares) of the national grid.
It is mainly, due to Perry’s work that the early nineteenth century botanical landscape of the sandstone country around Kidderminster is known (a full list of his records appears in the Appendix). Scott (1832) worked the Stourbridge area but no-one had seriously explored the Bromsgrove Sandstone country, further to the south. Perry was the principal early worker on the sandstones, east of the Severn. This was at a time of significant change in the agricultural landscape. Much of the botanically productive ground was lost before the later part of the nineteenth century.
The highlight is his wetland records. As with many experienced field naturalists, Perry’s attention seems to have been drawn to wet places, a third of his surviving records are wetland plants.
His records document wetlands at Oldfield, Fenny Rough, Falling Sands Common, Abberley Hill, Park Brook, Devils Spittleful, Rock Coppice, the Great Bog in Wyre. The lists are brief but can be presumed relative complete, for the uncommon species. They include good indicator species for specific fen and bog conditions.
The native flush communities of the Worcestershire sandstone country are virtually lost. Perry’s are the best and often only record of the natural flush assemblages in the district. Several of the communities indicated are extinct as Worcestershire habitats.
In March 1830, he wrote up some of his records for Loudon’s Magazine, although, curiously, he fails to make reference to his visits of 1821 and 1823. Later, c1840, he supplied a list of plants from Wyre Forest to W.A.Leighton for the latter’s Flora of Shropshire (1841). His herbarium specimens provide a record of his continuing activity in the Kidderminster area which apparently ceases after 1840. Subsequently, only occasional visits to Malvern and Worcester are recorded. His last known trip to the county was to Bromsgrove, probably Lickey, on 30th.June 1856.
Footnote
Perhaps the most curious fact concerning Perry is that he and his records are almost entirely ignored by Edwin Lees. The only reference by Lees (1867) traced to date concerning Perry is a repeat of the 1843 record of Osmunda regalis on Moseley Bog (Newman 1843). Lees (1867) also notes four other recorders.
The two men’s careers seem to run parallel and in adjoining counties. Perry was born in 1796 and Lees in 1800. Both were involved in the book trade. Perry had a bookshop on the High Street, Warwick. Lees’ early career had been in publishing and bookselling, when he occupied an establishment on the High Street, Worcester. Both were interested in natural history from a young age, and devoted much of their adult life to its contemplation and study. Both were intimately connected with their Natural History Clubs, whose areas of study bordered each other. Both published early lists for their respective counties. Both published lists of Worcestershire plants in the same volume of a national journal (Lees 1830, Perry 1831, Lees 1831). Both were known to Leighton in Shropshire and provided records for his flora of that county, 1841. It seems probable that they were acquainted; they had shared interests and moved in the same local circles.
So why did Lees maintain a silence? Record keeping was not Lees’ strong point. He was disorganised, as any serious study of his Botany of Worcestershire (Lees 1867) will indicate. But Perry’s list (Perry 1831) is of considerable interest to a Worcestershire botanist, with many new county records. It was only 13 pages away from a published article of Lees (Lees 1831). Lees was a regular contributor to and therefore, presumably, a reader of this journal. It would seem he deliberately ignored Perry’s published records. Is this a case of botanical rivalry, concerning first county records? Did Lees resent a Warwickshire man beating him into print? This seems unlikely as Lees freely acknowledges the contributions of others in his work. Does the explanation lay elsewhere, perhaps through shared business interests? Whatever the explanation, Lees seems to have held silent, throughout. His friend, William Mathews, co-founder with Lees of the Worcestershire Naturalists Field Club in 1847 (ed.Rea 1897), appeared nonplussed when writing on the matter, in 1888, “Perry’s list appears to have escaped Mr.Lees’s attention.”
References
AMPHLETT, J. AND REA, C., Flora of Worcestershire, 1909.
BAGNALL, J.E., Flora of Warwickshire, 1891 (biography pp.494-502).
CADBURY, D.A. ET AL; A Computer-mapped Flora of Warwickshire, 1971 (biography pp.52-54).
COPSON, P., Worcestershire Vice County 37 Catalogue of Specimens in Warwickshire Museum herbarium. Typescript manuscript undated, c1990.
HASTINGS, DR.C., Illustrations of the Natural History of Worcestershire, London 1834.
LEES, E., Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, Vol.III., 1830, p160.
LEES, E., Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, Vol.IV., 1831 p.437.
LEES, E. Botany of Worcestershire, 1867.
LEIGHTON, W.A., Flora of Shropshire, 1841.
MATHEWS, W., History of the County Botany of Worcester, Midland Naturalist Vol.XI, 1888, p.123.
NEWMAN,E. Phytologist Vol.I, March 1843, pp.508, 512-514.
PERRY,W.G., A Select List of Plants found in Warwickshire. Appeared in Dugdale’s Warwickshire, 1817.
PERRY,W.G., Manuscript notes interleaved in Perry’s personal copy of Plantae Varvicenses Selectae, compiled c.1823-1839.
PERRY,W.G., Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History Vol.IV., 1831, p.450.
REA, C editor, Transactions of the Worcestershire Naturalists’ Club Vol.I 1897.
SCOTT W., History of Stourbridge and its Vicinity, 1832.
WITHERING,W., ED.STOKES, DR.J., Botanical Arrangement of British Plants, Second Edition, 1787.
Appendix: W.G.Perry’s Worcestershire Records
Records in bold are the current known First County Records, by date. Many of these pre-date the records in Amphlett and Rea, 1909, and are published here for the first time.
| Scientific name | Site name | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Arabis glabra | A448 SO87 | 1829 |
| Verbascum virgatum | A449 SO85 | 1813 |
| Euphorbia amygdaloides | A449 SO86 | 1813 |
| Arabis glabra | A449 SO87 | 1829 |
| Sambucus nigra | A449 SO87 | 28 MAY 1832 |
| Sambucus nigra var laciniata | A449 SO87 | 1829 |
| Dryopteris carthusiana | A456 SO87 | 1829 |
| Potentilla argentea | A456 SO87 | 1829 |
| Apium nodiflorum | Abberley Bog | 07 JUL 1822 |
| Apium repens | Abberley Bog | 07 JUL 1823 |
| Montia fontana | Abberley Bog | 1829 |
| Ranunculus hederaceus | Abberley Bog | 07 JUL 1827 |
| Onobrychis viciifolia | Abberley Common | 1829 |
| Pseudofumaria lutea | Abberley Parish | 1829 |
| Hypericum montanum | Apostles Wood | 07 JUL 1827 |
| Malva moschata | Apostles Wood | 1829 |
| Mycelis muralis | B4091 Worcester Road Bromsgrove | 1829 |
| Campanula trachelium | B4203 Great Witley – Bromyard Road | 1829 |
| Asplenium adiantum-nigrum | Bewdley | AUG 1816 |
| Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley | 07 AUG 1816 |
| Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley | 23 JUN 1827 |
| Athyrium filix-femina | Bewdley | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Chamerion angustifolium | Bewdley | 22 JUL 1834 |
| Cystopteris fragilis | Bewdley | 07 AUG 1816 |
| Dryopteris dilatata | Bewdley | 23 JUN 1827 |
| Galium mollugo | Bewdley | 10 JUL 1829 |
| Malva moschata | Bewdley | 1829 |
| Myosotis secunda | Bewdley | 11 JUL 1829 |
| Solidago virgaurea | Bewdley | 11 JUL 1829 |
| Sedum dasyphyllum | Bewdley to Tenbury Wells Road | 1829 |
| Trifolium striatum | Bewdley to Tenbury Wells Road | 26 JUN 1827 |
| Asplenium trichomanes | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Blechnum spicant | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Campanula trachelium | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Dianthus deltoide | Blackstone Rock | 09 AUG 1816 |
| Dipsacus pilosus | Blackstone Rock | 18 SEP 1816 |
| Dryopteris dilatata | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Geranium lucidum | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Hypericum montanum | Blackstone Rock | 09 AUG 1816 |
| Luzula sylvatica | Blackstone Rock | 23 JUN 1827 |
| Melampyrum pratense | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Melica uniflora | Blackstone | 23 JUN 1827 |
| Mycelis muralis | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Ornithopus perpusillus | Blackstone Rock | 1829 |
| Anagallis tenella | Bog by Fenny Rough | 08 AUG 1816 |
| Epilobium parviflorum | Bog by Fenny Rough | 06 AUG 1816 |
| Epilobium tetragonum | Bog by Fenny Rough | 06 AUG 1816 |
| Eriophorum angustifolium | Bog by Fenny Rough | 1829 |
| Menyanthes trifoliata | Bog by Fenny Rough | 1829 |
| Triglochin palustre | Bog by Fenny Rough | 05 AUG 1816 |
| Aira caryophyllea | Bromsgrove (?Lickey) | 30 JUN 1856 |
| Ceratocapnos claviculata | Bromsgrove (?Lickey) | 30 JUN 1856 |
| Festuca ovina sens.str. | Bromsgrove (?Lickey) | 30 JUN 1856 |
| Blechnum spicant | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Eriophorum angustifolium | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Hieracium sp. | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Melampyrum pratense | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Myosotis laxa | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Pedicularis palustris | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Solidago virgaurea | Burnt Wood | 1829 |
| Campanula patula | Chaddesley Corbett Parish | 1829 |
| Inula conyzae | Chaddesley Corbett Parish | 1829 |
| Asplenium adiantum-nigrum | Cookley | JUL 1834 |
| Campanula patula | Cookley | 16 JUL 1834 |
| Campanula rotundifolia | Cookley | 16 JUL 1834 |
| Galium mollugo ssp. erectum | Cookley | 16 JUL 1834 |
| Drosera rotundifolia | Devils Spittleful | 1829 |
| Juncus squarrosus | Devils Spittleful | 26 MAR 1827 |
| Campanula patula | Dolphin Lane? | 1829 |
| Aquilegia vulgaris | Dowles Brook | 1829 |
| Sparganium emersum | Dowles Brook | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Drosera rotundifolia | Falling Sands Bog | 03 AUG 1816 |
| Drosera rotundifolia | Falling Sands Bog | 1829 |
| Epilobium palustre | Falling Sands Bog | 03 AUG 1816 |
| Erica tetralix | Falling Sands Bog | 1813 |
| Eriophorum angustifolium | Falling Sands Bog | 1813 |
| Eriophorum angustifolium | Falling Sands Bog | 23 JUN 1837 |
| Pedicularis sylvatica | Falling Sands Bog | 1829 |
| Vicia sativa ssp. nigra | Falling Sands Bog | 1829 |
| Teesdalia nudicaulis | Falling Sands Common | 1829 |
| Athyrium filix-femina | Fenny Rough | 29 JUN 1827 |
| Blechnum spicant | Fenny Rough | 1829 |
| Carex remota | Fenny Rough | 29 JUN 1827 |
| Hieracium sp. | Fenny Rough | 1829 |
| Blechnum spicant | Foxholes Kidderminster | 12 AUG 1816 |
| Cornus sanguinea | Foxholes Kidderminster | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Deschampsia flexuosa | Foxholes Kidderminster | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Hieracium sp. | Foxholes Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Potentilla argentea | Foxholes Kidderminster | 12 AUG 1816 |
| Potentilla argentea | Foxholes Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Umbilicus rupestris | Foxholes Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Verbascum blattaria | Foxholes Kidderminster | 12 AUG 1816 |
| Eriophorum latifolium | Great Bog New Parks | 1841 |
| Anthriscus caucalis | Greenhill Kidderminster | 28 MAY 1833 |
| Blackstonia perfoliata | Habberley Valley | 21 JUL 1834 |
| Erodium maritimum | Habberley Valley | 1829 |
| Hieracium sp. | Habberley Valley | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Hypericum androsaemum | Habberley Valley | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Lysimachia nemorum | Habberley Valley | 1829 |
| Mycelis muralis | Habberley Valley | 1829 |
| Clinopodium ascendens | Hampton Evesham | 1812 |
| Kickxia spuria | Hampton Evesham | 1812 |
| Eriophorum angustifolium | Hartlebury Common | JUN 1839 |
| Inula conyzae | Hartlebury Parish | 1829 |
| Linum usitatissimum | Hartlebury Parish | 1829 |
| Thlaspi arvense | Hartlebury Parish | 1829 |
| Verbena officinalis | Hartlebury Parish | 1829 |
| Scutellaria minor | Hitterhill Coppice Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Vaccinium myrtillus | Ipsley Coppice | 1839 |
| Arabis glabra | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Asplenium adiantum-nigrum | Kidderminster | AUG 1816 |
| Asplenium adiantum-nigrum | Kidderminster | JUN 1827 |
| Athyrium filix-femina | Kidderminster | 07 AUG 1816 |
| Blechnum spicant | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Carduus crispus | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Ceratocapnos claviculata | Kidderminster | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Cirsium palustre | Kidderminster | 06 AUG 1816 |
| Cystopteris fragilis | Kidderminster | 07 AUG 1816 |
| Epilobium roseum | Kidderminster | 03 AUG 1816 |
| Epilobium roseum | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Equisetum palustre | Kidderminster | 23 JUN 1827 |
| Erica cinerea | Kidderminster | 1813 |
| Galium saxatile | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Geranium columbinum | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Marrubium vulgare | Kidderminster | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Ornithopus perpusillus | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Polygala vulgaris | Kidderminster | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Scleranthus annuus | Kidderminster | 02 AUG 1816 |
| Spergularia rubra | Kidderminster | 07 AUG 1816 |
| Thlaspi arvense | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Vicia sativa ssp. nigra | Kidderminster | 1829 |
| Viola arvensis | Kidderminster | 22 JUN 1827 |
| Athyrium filix-femina | Malvern Hills | 21 SEP 1841 |
| Ceratocapnos claviculata | Malvern Hills | 21 SEP 1841 |
| Dryopteris dilatata | Malvern Hills | 21 SEP 1841 |
| Osmunda regalis | Moseley Common | 1842 |
| Rosa pimpinellifolia x sherardii | New Parks Wyre Forest | 1829 |
| Sorbus domestica | New Parks Wyre Forest | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Centaurium erythraea | North Wood Wribbenhall | 22 JUL 1834 |
| Erica cinerea | North Wood Wribbenhall | 22 JUL 1834 |
| Lysimachia vulgaris | North Wood Wribbenhall | 22 JUL 1834 |
| Baldellia ranunculoides | Oldfield Fen | 1813 |
| Pedicularis palustris | Oldfield Fen | 1829 |
| Pedicularis sylvatica | Oldfield Fen | 1813 |
| Potentilla palustris | Oldfield Fen | 1813 |
| Campanula patula | Ombersley Parish | 1813 |
| Pedicularis sylvatica | Ombersley Parish | 1813 |
| Eleocharis palustris | Park Brook Bogs | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Eriophorum latifolium | Park Brook Bogs | 26 JUN 1827 |
| Gymnadenia conopsea | Park Brook Bogs | 1829 |
| Gymnadenia conopsea | Park Brook Bogs | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Isolepis setacea | Park Brook Bogs | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Alchemilla vulgaris agg. | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Aquilegia vulgaris | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Carex pulicaris | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Eriophorum latifolium | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Geranium sylvaticum | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Gymnadenia conopsea | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Isolepis setacea | Park Brook Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Valeriana dioica | Park BrookWyre Forest | 1841 |
| Ceratocapnos claviculata | Pekket Rock | 1829 |
| Cirsium palustre | Pekket Rock | 1829 |
| Cirsium palustre | Pekket Rock | 13 JUL 1829 |
| Hypericum montanum | Pekket Rock | 1829 |
| Polygala vulgaris | Pekket Rock | 1829 |
| Trifolium striatum | Pekket Rock | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Trifolium striatum | Pekket Rock | 1829 |
| Umbilicus rupestris | Pekket Rock | 1829 |
| Vaccinium myrtillus | Pekket Rock | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Lobularia maritima | Red Hill Worcester | 09 SEP 1841 |
| Campanula trachelium | River Severn | 1829 |
| Blechnum spicant | Rock Coppice | 1829 |
| Hieracium sp. | Rock Coppice | 1829 |
| Melampyrum pratense | Rock Coppice | 1829 |
| Mycelis muralis | Rock Coppice | 1829 |
| Scutellaria minor | Rock Coppice | 11 JUL 1829 |
| Stachys arvensis | SO76 tetrad U | 07 JUL 1827 |
| Verbena officinalis | SO76 tetrad U | 1829 |
| Carex pseudocyperus | Stack Pool | 1829 |
| Eleocharis palustris | Stack Pool | 04 JUL 1827 |
| Rorippa palustris | Stack Pool | 1829 |
| Rumex maritimus | Stack Pool | 07 AUG 1816 |
| Rumex maritimus | Stack Pool | 06 JUL 1827 |
| Scirpus sylvaticus | Stack Pool | 22 JUN 1823 |
| Symphytum officinale | Staffordshire & Worcs. Canal | 1829 |
| Asplenium ruta-muraria | Stone Church | 1829 |
| Verbena officinalis | Stone Church | 1829 |
| Verbena officinalis | Stone Parish | 15 JUL 1836 |
| Hieracium sp. | Stour Hill | 1829 |
| Mycelis muralis | Stour Hill | 1829 |
| Onopordum acanthium | Stour Hill | 1829 |
| Senecio sylvaticus | Stour Hill | 22 JUN 1827 |
| Deschampsia flexuosa | Sutton Common | 22 JUN 1827 |
| Lithospermum arvense | Sutton Common | 22 JUN 1827 |
| Nardus stricta | Sutton Common | 22 JUN 1827 |
| Ornithopus perpusillus | Sutton Common | 1829 |
| Galium odoratum | Trimpley | 21 JUL 1834 |
| Pedicularis sylvatica | Trimpley | 25 JUN 1827 |
| Oreopteris limbosperma | Trimpley Green | 21 JUL 1834 |
| Polystichum setiferum | Trimpley Green | 21 JUL 1834 |
| Veronica montana | Trimpley Green | 21 JUL 1834 |
| Hieracium sp. | Wassall Wood | 1829 |
| Vicia sylvatica | Wassall Wood | 13 JUL 1829 |
| Carduus crispus | Wolverley Parish | 16 JUL 1834 |
| Potentilla argentea | Wolverley Parish | 1829 |
| Verbascum lychnitis | Wolverley Parish | 1829 |
| Asplenium ruta-muraria | Worcester | 21 SEP 1841 |
| Antirrhinum majus | Worcester Cathedral | 1813 |
| Cirsium palustre | Worcestershire Beacon | 21 SEP 1841 |
| Veronica officinalis | Worcestershire Beacon | 29 JAN 1841 |
| Blechnum spicant | Wordley Dingle | 1829 |
| Saponaria officinalis | Wribbenhall | 22 JUL 1834 |
| Aquilegia vulgaris | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Campanula trachelium | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Centaurium erythraea | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Drosera rotundifolia | Wyre Forest | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Geranium sylvaticum | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Hypericum androsaemum | Wyre Forest | 17 JUL 1834 |
| Juniperus communis | Wyre Forest | 1829 |
| Juniperus communis | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Malva moschata | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Melampyrum pratense | Wyre Forest | 26 JUN 1823 |
| Pedicularis palustris | Wyre Forest | 1829 |
| Pedicularis palustris | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Platanthera bifolia | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Polygala vulgaris | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Potamogeton crispus | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Prunus domestica | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Rosa tomentosa agg. | Wyre Forest | 25 JUN 1821 |
| Scirpus sylvaticus | Wyre Forest | 1829 |
| Scirpus sylvaticus | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Sorbus aucuparia | Wyre Forest | 26 JUN 1827 |
| Sparganium emersum | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Vaccinium myrtillus | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Valeriana officinalis | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
| Veronica officinalis | Wyre Forest | 1841 |
237 Rows (38 literature records duplicate herbarium material; in these the date is taken from the specimen).
NB: This page was copied several years ago as I started to gain information on Willam G Perry. The original records then disappeared from the web for some time and I was glad to have copied what I did. They then reappeared!! – so in fact this is now a duplication of what is on the web pages of the Worcestershire Botanical Records Centre at: http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WorcRecd/Issue14/biograph.htm
Part 3: William Groves Perry
Notes for a Case Study of a Local Warwick Family and Composer
I carried out a search for William Groves Perry on Herbaria United, the home of
HerbariaUnited
UK and Irish Herbaria On-line
The result was as follows:
Herbaria Specimen Search
For selected taxa (Impatiens glandulifera, Lobaria pulmonaria, Agrostemma githago, Linnaea borealis), HerbariaUnited has pooled the data from participating institutions—allowing the data to be searched collectively. To test this website with a larger pool of data, Manchester Museum has also uploaded part of its British rare plant (red-book list) records. Records from the herbaria@home project are also searchable here.
Search Results for ‘william, groves, perry’
| Taxon | Locality | Collectors | Date | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actaea spicata | GB, VC62 North-east Yorkshire, Castle Howard | William Groves Perry | 6/1842 | MANCH |
| Arenaria norvegica subsp. norvegica | GB, VC112 Shetland, Unst | William Groves Perry | MANCH | |
| Campanula patula | GB, VC37 Worcestershire | William Groves Perry | 16/7/1834 | MANCH |
| Cerastium alpinum x arcticum | GB, VC92 South Aberdeenshire, Lochnagar | William Groves Perry | 8/1839 | MANCH |
| Cornus suecica | GB, VC38 Warwickshire, Berkswell | William Groves Perry | 1843 | MANCH |
| Cynodon dactylon | GB, VC1 West Cornwall, Penzance | William Groves Perry | 1840 | MANCH |
| Eriocaulon aquaticum | GB, VC104 North Ebudes | William Groves Perry | MANCH | |
| Fritillaria meleagris | GB, VC38 Warwickshire, nr Wroxhall Abbey | William Groves Perry | 26/5/1839 | MANCH |
| Helleborus foetidus | GB, VC38 Warwickshire, Rowington | William Groves Perry | 16/4/1827 | MANCH |
| Potamogeton pectinatus | GB, VC38 Warwickshire, Warwick | William Groves Perry | 5/1844 | MANCH |
| Pyrola minor | GB, VC40 Shropshire, Whitecliff Coppice | William Groves Perry | 1835 to 1842 | MANCH |
| Sedum villosum | GB, VC65 North-west Yorkshire, Teesdale | William Groves Perry | 22/7/1840 | MANCH |
In addition to previous data collected from the Worcestershire Botanical Records Centre, this shows William Groves Perry to have been a much more active man than previously thought. He travelled widely into Northern England and Scotland, reaching Lochnagar in South Aberdeenshire in August 1839, Penzance in 1840, followed by North-west Yorkshire and Teesdale later the same year, Castle Howard, Yorks., again in June 1842, and as far as the Shetland Islands.
Although the date is not recorded, it seems probable that this visit to the Shetlands was also in the autumn of 1839 when he is recorded as visiting Aberdeenshire. He also visited the North Ebudes, Ebudes being the botanical name (“Watsonian vice-counties”) given to the Isle of Skye and its surrounding islands; again no date is given, but it could well have been as part of his Scottish visit in 1839.
NB: Readers are recommended to look at the search page at Herbaria United, the web home of Herbaria United, and to carry out the same search, as the resultant map of the British Isles gives a very fair representation of his travels over the stated time period.