He became interested in botany as a child and organised collections of wild plants that he had pressed to preserve.
This enthusiasm was supported by the botany curator at Leicester Museum, A. R. Horwood, and Wade worked informally with him after leaving school.
[1] He painted in watercolours and oils and was a founder member of the South Wales Group of artists.
In 1917 he joined the army, posted to France and was injured to his right elbow and face during the First World War.
The consequence of the injuries was that he could no longer work as a compositor and also had to learn to draw and paint with his left hand.
Wade's subsequent career was spent in the Department of Botany at the main site in Cardiff until he retired in 1961.
[2] Collema to the first issue, following it up in succeeding years with papers on The Lichenologist Alectoria (1959), Anaptychia and Physcia (1960) and Ramalina (1961).
In 1962 he was made an honorary member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles in 1962, and he was president from 1964 to 1965.