Biographical entry Bailey, Frederick Manson (1827 - 1915)

Summary

Frederick Manson Bailey was the Colonial Botanist in Queensland 1881-1915. He had earlier been appointed by the Queensland Government as botanist to investigate the cause of diseases affecting livestock and plants. Frederick Manson collected plant specimen all over Queensland and in British New Guinea and made an important contribution to the naming and classification of eucalypts. His son was John Frederick Bailey and his grandson was Cyril Tenison White.

Details

After arriving in Adelaide in 1839, Frederick Manson Bailey partnered his father and brother in a nursery at Hackney, near Adelaide. He then made a short visit to the Bendigo goldfields. Bailey eventually moved to Queensland where he set up his own seed supply store and plant collection business. He soon gain respect as a botanist, obtaining many distinguished career positions. Frederick Bailey's name was given to more than 50 species of plants. He published many significant volumes documenting Queensland's flora include the seven volume The Queensland flora (1899-1905) and Handbook of the Ferns of Queensland (1874).

Events

1839

Life event - Arrived in Australia (Adelaide)

1858 - 1861

Career position - Land holder in the Hutt Valley area of New Zealand

1861 - 1875

Career position - Seed store owner and plant exporter in Brisbane

1875 - 1879

Career position - Botanist on the Queensland Government board to inquire into the causes of diseases affecting livestock and plants

1878

Taxonomy event - F. Mueller named Eucalyptus planchoniana, of which Bailey collected the type.

1878

Taxonomy event - F. Mueller named Eucalyptus baileyana, of which Bailey collected the type.

1880 - 1882

Career position - Acting Curator at the Queensland museum

1881 - 1915

Career position - Colonial Botanist in Queensland

1890

Career position - President of the Royal Society of Queensland

1902

Award - Clarke Medal received from the Royal Society of New South Wales

1906

Taxonomy event - Collected and described Eucalyptus leichhardtii F. M. Bailey (= Eucalyptus peltata Benth. (F. M. Bailey) ssp. leichhardtii L. Johnson & D. Blaxell (1973))

1911

Career position - President of the biology section of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1911

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Frederick Manson Bailey - Records, 1876 - 1896; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Herbarium, Melbourne

• Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller - Records, 1888 - 1889, MSS M31; National Herbarium, Melbourne. Details
• Frederick Manson Bailey - Records, 1875 - 1889, MSS M5; National Herbarium, Melbourne. Details

Queensland Herbarium

• Frederick Manson Bailey - Records, 1887 - 1915; Queensland Herbarium. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in Australia Bibliography, eScholarship Research Centre, 2009, http://www.eoas.info/ciab.html. Details

Books

• Bailey, F. Manson, Handbook to the ferns of Queensland : compiled from the most recent works on ferns and an introduction to fern study, Thorne and Greenwell, Brisbane, 1874, 72 pp. Details
• Bailey, Frederick Manson, The Queensland flora: with plates illustrating some rare species [7 v.], Queensland Government, Brisbane, 1899-1905. Details
• Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts : short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Melbourne, 1978, 101 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Marks, E. N., 'Bailey, Frederick Manson (1827-1915), colonial botanist', in Douglas Pike (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 3, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 73-74. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030074b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Bailey, F. M., 'Medicinal Plants of Queensland', The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. 5, Linnean Society of New South Wales, Sydney, 1880, pp. 1-29. Details
• Bailey, F. M., 'A Concise History of Australian Botany', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, vol. 8, 1891, pp. xvii-xli. Details
• Clements, Gail, 'Colonial Science: F.M. Bailey and the Proposed Supplement to Flora Australiensis', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 12, no. 2, 1998, pp. 149-162. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9981220149.htm. Details
• Johnston, T. Harvey, 'Frederick Manson Bailey, CMG, FLS Presidential Address', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, vol. 28, 1916, pp. 3-10. Details
• Maiden, J.H., 'Records of Australian Botanists', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. lv, 1921, pp. 60-132; 150-169. Details
• White, C. T., 'The Bailey Family and its Place in the Botanical History of Australia', The Journal of the Historical Society of Queensland, vol. 3, 1944, pp. 362-383. Details
• White, C.T., 'F.M. Bailey: His Life and Work', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, vol. lxi, 1950, pp. 105-114. Details

Online Resources

• 'Bailey, F Manson', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-612144. Details