1828: Birth |
Venn's Cambridge alumni records that William was the eldest son of Jeremiah and Mary Mathews and that he was baptised at Hagley on 14th October 1828. His father was a land surveyor. |
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1847: Worcestershire Naturalists' Club |
Along with Edwin Lees, Professor Buckman and Dr. J H Blount a society to compile a county flora was formed. The young William Mathews was its secretary. (Jones, M. M. 1880. The lookers-out of Worcestershire. Trowbridge. |
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1848: Cambridge University |
St John's College: "Matric. Michs. 1848; (20th Wrangler, 1852); B.A. 1853; M.A. 1856. "(Venn, J. A., comp. Alumni Cantabrigienses.) |
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1856 March 5: Geological Society |
William was elected as a fellow of the Geological Society (his uncle William had been elected in 1838.) |
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1858: The Alpine Club |
William Mathews is generally acknowledged as the founding member of the Alpine Club. |
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1859 August: Mont Blanc |
¹Worcester Journal : 1859 October 1 "WORCESTERSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY - Mr. Mathews road a paper descriptive of meteorological observations taken during an ascent of Mont Blanc, on the 28th, 29th, and 30th August, 1859. These observations were taken from thermometers erected at three different stations in the ascent, by Dr. Tindall, who had ascended Mont Blanc a short time previously, and were the first observations made since their erection. The thermometer on the summit of Mont Blanc stood at 5.4 degrees. Mr. Mathews invited attention at tho close of the soiree to inspect a series of stereoscopic views of various Alpine scenes, which he had obtained. He also produced specimens of lava from a basaltic quarry, at Clermont, in Central France, taken from different elevations, showing the process from carious lava into compact trap. " |
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1862: Publication |
William contributed chapters to Peaks, Passes and Glaciers, edited by Kennedy, E. S., documenting his recent Alpine excursions. [Google Books] |
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1863 December 16: Marriage |
¹Oxford Times: 1863 December 26 - "MARRIAGES. MATHEWS - LAWRENCE. - Dec. 16, at the parish church of Kingsnorton, Worcestershire, by the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton, Rector of Hagley, assisted by the Rev. J. M. L. Aston, Vicar of Kingsnorton, William Mathews, jun., Esq., M.A., of Edgbaston, to Agnes Sarah, youngest daughter of John Towers Lawrence, Esq., of Balsall Heath, Birmingham." |
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1868: Publication |
Clentine Rambles. - William contributed a list of the "geological formations" and flowering plants to this book by William Harris and W. Stephens. [Google Books] |
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1876: Algeria |
He made an autumn expedition to Algeria, later writing about his observations. |
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1880: Publication |
Flora of Algeria, considered in relation to the physical history of the Mediterranean region, and supposed submergence of the Sahara. 56pp. This was based on a paper presented to the Birmingham Philosophical Society which subsequently appeared in their Transactions. |
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1881: Publication |
Flora of the Clent and Lickey Hills. |
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1901 October 11: Death |
¹Cheltenham Chronicle: 1901 October 14 - "DEATH OF MR. W. MATHEWS. AN ALPINE EXPLORER. Mr. William Mathews, M.A., F.G.S., died on Wednesday at Broadwater Down, Tunbridge Wells, where has resided during the past few years. During the greater part of his life he was engaged in business in Birmingham, and was active, until his health began to fail, in the furtherance of higher education in that city. He was a good geologist and enthusiastic botanist, and his excellent collections of the local and Alpine flora were lately presented to the Herbarium at Kew; an original member of the Alpine Club, and in due course President, he was in his younger days one of the most active explorers of the Alps, especially in the region South of Mont Blanc. During these wanderings he made many new ascents, perhaps the most noteworthy being that of Monte Viso, which he climbed in 1861. Though his work was arrested by an illness, the result of over-strain about twenty-five years ago, his interest in science remained, until all labour was stopped by increasing illness. " A fuller obituary, by T. G. Bonney, was printed in The Eagle (Internet Archive) |
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