William Sole

Who was William Sole?

William Sole was a British botanist.

Born in Little Thetford, Cambridgeshire, Sole studied at the King's School, Ely, then served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Cambridge. On qualifying, he moved to Bath.

In his spare time, Sole undertook influential botanical research, specialising in the study of mints in his garden, where he tried to replicate natural conditions as closely as possible. In 1798, he published Menthae Britannicae, and the terminology he used in the text was adopted generally throughout the nineteenth century. He also researched grasses and the local flora of Bath, and was elected as one of the first associates of the Linnean Society.

Sprengel named the genus Solea for Sole, although this was later merged into Viola.