George Henry Kendrick Thwaites

Who was George Henry Kendrick Thwaites?

George Henry Kendrick Thwaites was an English botanist and entomologist.

Thwaites was initially an accountant and studied botany during his spare time. He was interested particularly in the lower plants such as the algae and the cryptogams. He become a recognized botanist when he showed that the diatoms are not animals, but algae. In 1846 he was lecturer on botany at the Bristol school of pharmacy and afterwards at the medical school. In March 1849, on the death of George Gardner, Thwaites was appointed superintendent of the botanical gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon.

He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society on 1 June 1865 following the publication of his ‘Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniæ,’ – His notes form the most valuable portion of Frederic Moore's ‘Lepidoptera of Ceylon’. He established the Cinehona nurseries, Hakgala, Ceylon.

The genera Thwaitesia and Kendrickia were named after him.