Correspondence and botanical notes of Leonard Rodway (1853-1936) Index: Royal Society Collection

Leonard Rodway (1853-1936) CMG, dentist and botanist was born in Devon, England, son of Henry Barron Rodway, dentist, and Elizabeth (Allin). He trained in the training ship "Worcester" and served at sea for three years before studying to be a dentist at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He qualified in 1878 and migrated to Brisbane where he married Louisa Phillips. They settled in Hobart in 1880. Rodway practised as a dentist and also acted as dental surgeon to the Hobart General Hospital. He devoted his spare time to botany and preparing a catalogue of Tasmanian plants. He published The Tasmanian Flora (Hobart 1903), Some Wild Flowers of Tasmania (Hobart 1910), Tasmanian bryophyta (Hobart 1914-16) and contributed many papers to the Royal Society of Tasmania to which he was elected in 1884. He was Honorary Government Botanist from 1896 - 1932 and established a Herbarium in 1928. He was a trustee of the Botanical Gardens 1911 - 1928 and then Director of the Gardens. He was lecturer in Botany to the University of Tasmania 1923 - 1929. He was also a foundation member of the Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club and a leader of its bush excursions. He received the CMG in 1917 Six volumes of manuscript notes and drawings on Tasmanian plants, with some enclosed correspondence with well-known botanists. RS.2