Alfred Fryer

[1] The Fryer family had lived in the Fenlands of the Chatteris district for more than 300 years; Alfred's father was a gentleman farmer of considerable means who placed few restrictions on his son.

At first his attention was taken up by insects, birds, shells and fossils, and it was only after 1860 that he became preoccupied with botany, corresponding with Cardale Babington, John Gilbert Baker and Arthur Bennett.

His intimate knowledge of plants led to his considering a flora of Huntingdonshire, but his growing fascination with Potamogetons, or 'Pots' as he termed them, claimed priority.

During this period Fryer was growing Potamogetons in tanks placed in his garden, tracking their development together with that of their numerous wild counterparts.

His prolific contributions to the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign led to his 1897 election as Associate to the Linnean Society.