Abstract
MR. FRANCIS DRUCE, who was killed recently by enemy action, was well known as a botanist and collector of botanical books. He was born on January 3, 1873. Educated at Harrow and Magdalen College, Oxford, he entered the long-established firm of Druce and Attlee. In 1910 he was forced by ill-health to retire from active participation in the business (from which he completely retired in 1923), and his great love of “Nature in all her moods” led his energies into the study first of meteorology, then of his chief interest, botany. His legal experience, good judgment and methodical habits made him an ideal treasurer of scientific societies to which he belonged. In this capacity he served the Royal Meteorological Society for two periods, 1913–1918 and 1925-?F32. He was treasurer of the Linnean Society of London from 1931 until the autumn of 1940, when he became master of the Innholders' Company, of which, following the family tradition, he had previously been clerk for some years. Of the Botanical Society of the British Isles he became treasurer a few years before his death, and also took over the secretaryship when the secretary was called up for active service.
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WILMOTT, A. Mr. Francis Druce. Nature 147, 702 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147702a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147702a0