Arthur Edward Wade

Arthur Wade was a botanist and lichenologist. He was Deputy Curator in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Wales from 1920 until 1961. He was president of the British Lichen Society from 1964 until 1966.

Early life, education and personal life Arthur Wade was born in Leicester on 22 November 1895. He attended a grammar school in Leicester and then the local technical college. He became interested in botany as a child and organised collections of wild plants that he had pressed to preserve. This enthusiasm was supported by the botany curator at Leicester Museum, A. R. Horwood, and Wade worked informally with him after leaving school. In 1915 he became a member of the Botanical Exchange Club (which later became the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland).

Career In 1912 Wade was apprenticed as an apprentice printing compositor. In 1917 he joined the army, posted to France and was injured to his right elbow and face during the First World War. The consequence of the injuries was that he could no longer work as a compositor and also had to learn to draw and paint with his left hand. In 1919 he started a course at Northampton Technical College about business management. He joined the British Bryological Society in 1946 and was a member of its council from 1954 until 1955. He continued in an honorary research position at the museum after his retirement. In 1958 he was awarded an honorary M.Sc. for his services to botany by the University of Wales. In 1962 he was made an honorary member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles in 1962, and he was president from 1964 to 1965. In 1971 Wade became the first Honorary member of the British Lichen Society.

The lichen genus Wadeana is named after him.