Alfred Barton Rendle, 1865-1938

Abstract

Dr Alfred Barton Rendle, who died at Leatherhead on 11 January 1938, was born in London, the oldest child and only son of Cornish parents, on 19 January 1865. From his early school in Lewisham, where he had been taught to recognize common English plants, Rendle went with a scholarship to St. Olave’s, Southwark, where his interest in plants was maintained and his knowledge of them increased by voluntary study and informal instruction outside school hours. From St. Olave’s, Rendle in 1884 entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, with a sizarship, and graduated B.A. in 1887, and M.A. (Cantab.) in 1891. But he must have matriculated in the University of London before entering St. John ’s, since in 1886, when half-way through his Cambridge career, he was awarded a London University Exhibition when he passed the Intermediate Science Examination. He obtained the degree of B.Sc. in 1887 and of D.Sc. (Lond.) in 1898.