History of NUI Galway, the Science Faculty and associated scientists.

Augustine Henry (1857-1930)

Ireland is a very productive place in which to grow trees.  Unfortunately most of Ireland’s forests were cut down over the years.  Augustine Henry played a key role in reversing this situation as he promoted the planting of conifers.  It is however only in recent years that his ideas have been fruitful and Ireland is now rapidly developing its forest industry, using fast-growing conifers and broadleaves.  Augustine Henry was the greatest of all Irish botanical explorers. 

Although born in Scotland, Henry’s family returned to Co. Antrim while he was quite young.  Henry was educated at Cookstown Academy, Co. Tyrone and Queen’s College Galway (QCG) and Belfast.  He studied medicine and graduated from QCG in 1879.  He acquired a working knowledge of Chinese and in 1881 joined the Imperial Customs Service in China.  Henry was interested in native medicines and started collecting specimens.  His first collection of a thousand plants was sent to Kew Gardens and was regarded as one of the finest to come out of inland China.  In 1888 he published a list of Chinese plants in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.  He was the first to publish an account of the flora of Taiwan.  While in Taiwan he studied law and became a member of the Middle Temple.  Henry was responsible for introducing hundreds of Chinese and Oriental plants into European gardens.  Henry changed careers and went to study forestry in France.  He was joint author of the famous seven-volume "The trees of Great Britain and Ireland".  In 1913 he was appointed Professor of Forestry at the Royal College of Science in Dublin (now UCD). 

Sources:

A Dictionary of Irish Biography, Henry Boylan (ed.), Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1998. 

  Forbairt Portrait Gallery: Catalogue and short biographies of Great Irish Scientists.  Dr. R. Charles Mollan (ed.), Forbairt (Enterprise Ireland), 1997.

  Mary Mulvihill, Ingenious Ireland: A county-by-county exploration of Irish mysteries and marvels, Townhouse Publishers, Dublin 2002.

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