Adrian Woodruffe Peacock

Edward Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock (23 July 1858 – 3 February 1922) was an English clergyman and ecologist.

He was an early exponent of the ecological approach to natural history recording.

Early life and education Woodruffe-Peacock was born at Bottesford Manor in north Lincolnshire on 23 July 1858, the son of Edward Peacock (1831–1915), a farmer, antiquary and author, and Lucy Ann Wetherell (1823–1887).

He obtained his licentiate in theology in December 1880 and was ordained deacon in 1881 and then priest in 1883.

His profile in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography notes that his routes contained some of the best observed and documented habitats in the country.

He took a leading role in the foundation of the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union in 1893, serving as organizing secretary in 1895 and president in 1905. He was the prime mover in establishing a museum for Lincolnshire, his extensive herbarium forming an integral part of its original collections and the foundation of the city and county museum's herbarium. He was elected a fellow of both the Linnean Society and the Geological Society in 1895. He also appreciated the mechanisms of dispersal, a neglected aspect of British ecology, which he approached through the careful study of microhabitats. The two eventually met on a field trip to Mildenhall in Suffolk and, surprisingly, since Tansley was an avowed atheist, became close friends. By this point Woodruffe-Peacock had been working on a detailed study, Rock-soil flora of Lincolnshire, for many years, and Tansley, impressed, offered to contribute £300 towards its publication.

Owing to poor health, Woodruffe-Peacock was never able to make the necessary revisions and only a small section was ever published, the rest of the manuscript passing into the archives of Cambridge University Library. According to Brian J. Ford, these extensive notes show him to be "ahead of his time" in his approach to natural history.

Personal Woodruffe-Peacock suffered for much of his life from chronic hay fever and rheumatism.

In 1920, by now Rector of Grayingham, he suffered an emotional setback when his sister Mabel died. A combination of this, the pressures of his new appointment, and the disappointment of his magnum opus requiring so many revisions, saw his health break down. He died on 3 February 1922 and was buried in an unmarked grave beside his sister.

Selected publications Books and pamphlets

Journal articles