Franklyn Perring

Franklyn Hugh Perring PhD, OBE (1 August 1927 – 11 October 2003) was a British naturalist, regarded as "one of the most influential botanists and nature conservationists of the 20th century".

Perring authored or co-edited over a dozen floras, conservation articles and wild flower guides, but is best known as joint editor of the Atlas of the British Flora. This was a landmark publication, produced for the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) in 1962, and which laid the groundwork for future national and local biological recording schemes across Britain. He also played a key role in the development of the modern Wildlife Trust movement.

Early life Franklyn Perring was born in Forest Gate, East London and was the son of an antiques dealer. He grew up at Woodford Green, close to the Epping Forest, and also spent time at weekends on the Blackwater estuary. Encouraged by his uncle Stanley Perring, a biologist and teacher, it was there that he developed his interest in natural history which was to shape the course of the rest of his life.

Royal Society for Nature Conservation In 1979, Perring left the Biological Records Centre at Monks Wood to take up the post of general secretary of the Royal Society for Nature Conservation (RSNC), a national body acting as a coordinating organisation for the country's fifty local naturalists' trusts (later Wildlife Trusts). He remained in this position until he retired in 1987. During his tenure, the RSNC raised £15m for wildlife projects, launched Natural World magazine for all Trust members, established some 500 nature reserves and founded many urban wildlife groups.

He helped to establish the European mapping project, based in Helsinki, and which is still working on compiling the 'Atlas Florae Europaeae' - mapping all the species listed in Flora Europaea. and co-edited many other publications, including: Ecological Effects of Pesticides (1977) Changing Attitudes to Nature Conservation (1988) Tomorrow is Too Late (1990) Britain's Conservation Heritage (1991).