Augustine Henry

In 1929 the Botanical Institute of Peking dedicated to him the second volume of Icones plantarum Sinicarum, a collection of plant drawings.

In 1935, John William Besant was to write: 'The wealth of beautiful trees and flowering shrubs which adorn gardens in all temperate parts of the world today is due in a great measure to the pioneer work of the late Professor Henry'.

At some stage, he came in contact with Sir Robert Hart who encouraged him to join the Imperial Customs Service in China.

He was sent to the remote posting of Yichang (Ichanh) in 1882 in Hubei Province, Central China, to investigate plants used in Chinese medicine.

Henry gave instructions to the plant collector Ernest Wilson on where to collect Davidia involucrata, originally discovered by the French missionary priest Père Armand David.

He later became joint author with Henry John Elwes of the 7 volume Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 1907–13.

He was responsible, with A.C. Forbes, the Director of Forestry at the Department of Agriculture and Technical instruction, for the lay-out of 1-acre (4,000 m2) plots of trees at Avondale, County Wicklow.