| Birth | Leo Farmar was born 20 February 1878 in Dover, Kent, England. |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Birth. MarQ,1878. Leo Farmar. Dover 2a, 925. (GBCivRegInd LDS6102076.) |
| INFO | ACADEMIC CERTIFICATE. Dover Express, 9 Jun 1893. "Society of Arts -- Polytechnic Centre. Leo Farmar, 15, obtained certificates in book-keeeping and arithmetic at this centre. He was the only one that passed." (DoverExprFMP.) |
| INFO | EMPLOYED at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew Staff (December 31, 1905) includes: Leo Farmar as one of five with the title "Preparer (Herbarium)". He entered as a young gardener in 1903. (JourKewGuild 2(13) 1905.) |
| INFO | ALUKA INDEX. An online index of African scholarly resources includes several references to the plant materials collected by Leo Farmar in West Africa in 1906. There are also references to four letters written by Leo Farmar during the West African Expedition in 1906. They are filed in vol.185 of Director's Correspondence, at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Also in vol.180 of the Director's Correspondence are two letters relating to possible selection of Leo Farmar to go to Abysinnia to study rubber forests and production. (AlukaIndex access date-- Aug 2009.) |
| INFO | OUTBOUND PASSENGER LIST. Ship Zungern, master J. A. Lobb, bound for West Africa. Embarcation L'pool: Mr. L. Farmar, for Cameroon, single male. (UKOutPassAnc.) |
| INFO | EMPLOYMENT at the Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics, Liverpool University. June 1906. Regular staff of the Institute: Botany, Formal: Leo Farmar. "Mr. Leo Farmar during the autumn was engaged at Kew on work for the Institute . . . A special word of appreciation is due in respect of the splendid services Mr. Farmar rendered the Institute. His tireless energy, his extensive knowledge, and his unswerving devotion to work made him an invaluable member of the First West African Expedition. . . ." (InstComResTr 2(4):24-25 Apr 1907.) |
| INFO | ARTICLE CO-AUTHORED. An article "Botanic Gardens at Konakry, French Guinea" by Viscount Mountmorres and Leo Farmar appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics, Liverpool University, Apr 1907, pp. 161-166. A detailed description of the layout and plants of this garden which both authors visited in 1906 as members of the First West African Expedition of the Insitute. (InstComResTr 2(4):9-17 Apr 1907.) |
| INFO | HERBARIUM CATALOGUE Kew Gardens. Named for Leo Farmar: Tapinanthus farmari. Plants of the Gold Coast Colony, collected by Leo Farmar, #503 19 Sep 1906. . A photograph of the actual plant material collected by Farmar in Ghana in 1906 appears inthe online index for the Herbarium, as well as later plant material collected by Milne-Readhead in 1941. There are 21 items in the Kew Herbarium collected by L. Farmara in Ghana, Guinea and Senegal. (KewHerbarCat #K000406857-59 and Search results for collector= Farmar.) |
| INFO | WEST AFRICA TRIP REPORT by Leo Farmar in the Journal of the Kew Guild, 1906. "A Journey in West Africa." Leo's short summary of the expedition to West Africa is interesting and entertaining. (JourKewGuild 2(14):324-26 1906.) |
| INFO | BOTANIC SPECIMENS AT KEW. Article by Otto Stapf: Accession of Tropical African Plants from 1899-1906. in Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Lists botanists whose collected specimens were accessioned by the Kew herbarium. "Farmar, Leo: Sierra Leone and French Guinea, 434 specimens (partly named), communicated by Viscount Mountmorres on behalf of the Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics, of the University of Liverpool." (KewMisInfDig no. 4 1907 pp.233-235.) |
| INFO | EXPEDITION REPORT. Quarterly Journal of the Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics, Liverpool University. Apr 1907. The annual report for the Institute includes a detailed report of the First West African Expedition of the Institute, 6 Jan to 5 June 1906. Leo Farmar was botanist for the expedition. Others in the group were an entomologist, a chemist, a commercial adviser and the Institute Director. The purpose of the expedition was to "study problems connected with rubber, cocoa, fibre, and maize." The countries they visited included Senegal, French Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast. It was a rigorous trip in difficult conditions. Toward the end of the expedition, "the illness of Mr. Farmar, whose condiion became exceedingly grave, made it necessary . . ." to change some of their scheduled visits. "During the course of this Expedition a great quantity of botanical and entomological material was collected. Mr. Farmar took the former to Kew to work on in he herbarium there . . .. As a result of Mr. Farmar's extraordinary energy and application almost all the whole of the hundreds of specimens brought back were worked through, determined, and mounted by the end of September, and form now a highly valuable Wes African herbarium of nearly 800 specimens." (InstComResTr 2(4):9-17, Apr 1907.) |
| Death | He died 6 April 1907 in Southsea, England, at age 29. |
| INFO | DEATH CERTIFICATE. Portsmouth Mid Southsea 1907 #50. d. 6 April 1907 at Bush Hotel, Elm Grove, Southsea, UK. Leo Farmar, male, 29 years, Botanist at Kew Gardens. Of 7 Haverfield Gardens, Kew. Cause: Committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver whilst temporarily insane. Certificate received from P.H. Childs Deputy Coroner for Portsmouth. Inquest held 9 April 1904. Reg. 9 Apr 1907. S.M. Clark. reg. (GBCertDeaONS.) |
| INFO | OBITUARY in Gardeners' Chronicle, 13 April 1907. "Leo Farmar. -- The death, by suicide, is announced from Southsea of Mr. Leo Farmar, a young man (28 years) who at one time was an assistant in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, which place he left in order to go to the Royal Gardens, Kew. Deceased, who has occasionally contributed to these columns, was employed on the herbarium staff at Kew for several years, in the capacity of preparer. He left Kew in January, 1906, and accompanied as botanist an expedition sent out under the auspices of the Liverpool University to the French and West African Colonies. A note of this expedition appeared in the Journal of the Kew Guild for 1906. He was to have joined an expedition to Africa, arranged by Sir Alfred Jones, for the purpose of investigating the cotton-growing possibilities of that country. " (GardChronDig 13 Apr 1907, p.243.) |
| INFO | OBITUARY. Quarterly Journal of the Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics, Liverpool University. "By the tragic death of Leo Farmar, on April 6th, this Institute suffers an almost irreparable loss. Only a few days before the sad event, the Director, in referring to his Report to Mr. Farmar's splendid services, foreshadowed the likelihood of their being permanently at the disposal of the Institute. The news of his untimely end came, therefore, as an exceptionally severe shock. Mr. Farmar's encyclopaedic knowledge of formal botany, his personal courage, his untiring energy, his cheerful adaptablilty, his utter disregard of himself, and his enthusiastic zeal made him an ideal member of an expedition to unfrequented regions, whilst at home his punctilious and prompt business habits, his capacity for work, and his love of his subject, and above all his scrupulous care and accuracy, made him an invaluable assistant. Reticent and self-contained, he did not make friends quickly, but all who knew him appreciated his sterling qualities, and those who knew him well held him in the highest esteem personally. To them his death is a very real disappointment. He had already achieved so much, and he had the ability to achieve so much more, that they looked foreward confidently to a future of exceptional brilliance and distinction from him. M." (InstComResTr 2(4):26 April 1907.) |
| INFO | ESTATE ADMIN. 1907 Farmar, Leo, of 7 Haverfield-gardens Kew Surrey died 6 April 1907 at the "Bush" Hotel Portsmouth. Administration London 8 June to Egbert Farmar inland-revenue-officer. Effects £62 6s 6d. (PPRCalen LDS251399 1907.) |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Death. Farmar, Leo 29. Jun Q, 1907. Portsmouth, 2b,335. (GBCivRegInd LDS6103365.) |
| INFO | OBITUARY. Journal of the Kew Guild [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew] 1907. "Leo Farmar Farmar was so well-known and liked by the elder hands at Kew that his death by his own hand on April 6, 1907, at the age of 28, came as a very painful surprise. He had been at Manchester and Glasnevin Botanic Gardens before entering Kew as a gardener in March 1903. Being almost immediately transferred to the Herbarium, he remained there until January 1 1906, then joining an expedition to West Africa . . . Since January 1907 he had been re-engaged as a temporary assistant in the Herbarium, but had just relinquished this position to work for Messrs. Elwes & Henry. . . . He was a clever and promising botanist, and among other activities an expert photographer. Whilst in Africa he contracted an illness which led to blood poisoning, and there is little doubt that this somewhat affected his constitution. He was a man of very nervous temperament, studious and alert, and very sympathetic and thoughtful for others. . . ." [the obituary from the Quarerly Journal of he Institute of Commercial Research in the Tropics, Liverpool University is quoted here also]. (JourKewGuild 2(15) 1907:381-82.) |
| INFO | BIOGRAPHY Britten: Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists. "Farmar, Leo (1875?-1907): b. 1875? d. Southsea, Hants. 6 April 1907. Employed at Kew Herbarium, 1903-5; to West Africa, 1906; in Kew Herbarium, 1907. Journ. Kew Guild ii. 381 (portr.) Gard. Chron. 1907, i,243." (BiogrBotDig 3rd suppl, 1903-1907, p.5.) |
| INFO | BOTANIC LITERATURE listings for Leopold Farmar in Dorr: Taxonomic Literature, suppl VII, 2008. "Farmar, Leopold ('Leo') (1878-1907), British botanist, born 20 Feb 1878, gardener in Manchester, student apprentice, Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland 1900-1901, gardener, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from Mar 1903 and then in Kew Herb. 1903-1906. Liverpool Univ. W. Afr. Exped. 1906, died 6 Apr 1907 by suicide at Southsea (Hants.) (Farmar). Herbarium and Types: BM, DBN (Irish Dept. Agric.), K, LIVU. -Mss, materials at Kew. Bibliography and biography: APN p.194 (b. "1875"); Barnhart I:527; BB p.105 (b."1875?"); Desmond p.217 (as "Farmer", b. "ca.1875"), ed. 2:241 (as "Farmer"; IH 2: 190: Strid p.197,ed.2:151. Biofile: Anon. J Kew Guild 2:381-382, 1907 (portr.); Gard. Chron. 1:243, 1907; Quart. J. Liverpool Univ. Inst. Comm. Res. Trop. 2(4):9-17, 1d, 2:26 1907. (n.v.) Hepper, F.N. & F.Neate, 1971. Pl. collectors W. Afr: 29 (b. "1875"0 Nelson, E.C. 1980. Glasra 4:46. (specimens at DBN) Nelson, E.C. 1990, Occas. Pap. Natl. Bot. Gard. Glasnevin 4:24. . . ." (TaxonLitDig p.45) [DF NOTE: The references listed under "Bibliography and Biography" above have not been identified or consulted.]. |
Leo Farmar