Cardale Babington

Charles Cardale Babington (23 November 1808 – 22 July 1895) was an English botanist and archaeologist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851.

Babington was the son of Joseph Babington and Cathérine née Whitter, and a nephew of Thomas Babington Macaulay. He was educated at Charterhouse^[1] and St John's College, Cambridge, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in 1830 and his Master of Arts in 1833.^[2] He overlapped at Cambridge with Charles Darwin, and in 1829 they argued over who should have the pick of beetle specimens from a local dealer.^[3] He obtained the chair of botany at the University of Cambridge in 1861 and wrote several papers on insects. He married Anna Maria Walker on 3 April 1866.

Babington was a member of several scientific societies including the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, the Linnean Society of London (1853), the Geological Society of London, the Royal Society (1851), and in 1833 he participated in the foundation of the Royal Entomological Society. Babington was President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association at their meeting at Church Stretton in 1881 and for many years served as Chairman of the council of the Association.

He wrote Manual of British Botany (1843), Flora of Cambridgeshire (1860), The British Rubi (1869) and edited the publication Annals and Magazine of Natural History from 1842. His herbarium and library are conserved by the University of Cambridge.

References

1. Darby, Michael. A Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists. http://www.coleopterist.org.uk/biogdict-intro.htm
2. "Babington, Charles Cardale (BBNN825CC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. Darwin Correspondence Project Database. http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-60/ (letter no. 60; accessed 28 December 2010)
4. "Author Query for 'Bab.'". International Plant Names Index.

• Allen G. Debus (ed.) (1968). World Who’s Who in Science. A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists from Antiquity to the Present. Marquis-Who’s Who (Chicago) : xvi + 1855 p.
• Anthony Musgrave (1932). Bibliography of Australian Entomology, 1775-1930, with biographical notes on authors and collectors, Royal Zoological Society of News South Wales (Sydney) : viii + 380.
•  Sidney Lee, ed. (1901). "Babington, Charles Cardale". Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement​. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Further reading

• Desmond, R.G.C. (1970). "Babington, Charles Cardale". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 358–358. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.

External links

• Archival material relating to Cardale Babington listed at the UK National Archives
• Works by or about Cardale Babington in libraries (WorldCat catalog)