Thomas Johnson FLS MRIA (27 February 1863 – 9 September 1954) was an English botanist and academic renowned as an expert and cataloguer of the world's algae, fungi, and fossil plants.
[2] He attended Elmfield College in Heworth, York and, after additional study, received an appointment in 1890 as Professor of Botany at Ireland's largest institution of higher learning, Catholic University of Ireland which, in 1909, became University College Dublin.
In his 36-year tenure in the post he instructed generations of future botanists and other scientists, oversaw the expansion of the National Herbarium and was instrumental in the founding of the first seed testing station for Britain and Ireland.
[3] In 1902, Matilda Cullen Knowles was appointed a temporary assistant in the then Botanical Section of the National Science and Art Museum.
His eldest son was a physician with the Royal Army Medical Corps and was killed in action in the Second World War,[7] while his younger son was awarded the Military Cross during the First World War for bravery during the Gallipoli Campaign while serving with the 5th (Service) battalion of the Connaught Rangers.