Watts, William Walter (1856 - 1920)

Summary

William Watts migrated to Australia in 1886 because of ill-health and was called to ministries in the Anglican church in Queensland, New Zealand and New South Wales until 1916. His interest in mosses began in the 1890s and he collected prolifically throughout eastern Australia, New Zealand and Lord Howe Island. His specimens are of particular interest because he collected the same species in multiple locations at multiple times of year, over many years, thus providing much material for studies of variation within species and over geographic range. Many of his collections are from rainforest areas which have been destroyed. The National Herbarium of Victoria and National Herbarium of New South Wales hold most of his collections. Watts published many papers on mosses, ferns and hepatics in Australian scientific journals. He collaborated with Thomas Whitelegge to produce Census muscorum australiensium (1902-1906). The fern genus Revwattsia D.L. Jones and over 30 species were named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1886

Life event - Arrived in Melbourne

1899 - 1920

Career position - Fellow, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1909 - 1916

Career position - Honorary Curator of mosses and hepatics, National Herbarium of New South Wales

1915 - 1920

Career position - Fellow, Royal Society of New South Wales

1919 - 1920

Award - Elected Fellow, Linnean Society, London

1998

Taxonomy event - Revwattsia D.L. Jones was named in his honour

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Downs, Katherine; and Ramsay, Helen, 'Clergyman, bryologist, advocate: Reverend W.W. Watts in the Richmond River district', Australasian bryological newsletter, 73 (2019), 6-9. Details
• Downs, Katherine; and Ramsay, Helen, 'Clergyman, bryologist, advocate: Reverend W.W. Watts in the Richmond River district (part two, continued)', Australasian bryological newsletter, 74 (2020), 7-10. Details
• Ramsay, H. P., 'William Walter Watts, 1856 - 1920', Australasian Bryological Newsletter, 39 (1998), 1-4. Details
• Ramsay, Helen P., 'Contributions of Rev. W. W. Watts F.L.S. to Australian botany', Taxon, 29 (4) (1980), 455-69. Details
• Watts, W. W.; and Whitelegge, T., 'Census muscorum australiensium: a classified catalogue of the frondose mosses of Australia and Tasmania, collated from available publications and herbarium records [part I]', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 27 (supp. to pt 3) (1902), 1-90. Details
• Watts, W. W.; and Whitelegge, T., 'Census muscorum australienisum: a classified catalogue of the frondose mosses of Australia and Tasmania, collated from available publications and herbarium records [part II]', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 30 (supp. to pt 4) (1906), 91-163. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q3569020. Details
• 'Watts, William Walter (18561005-19200930)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1772740. Details

See also

• Franks, Andrew J., 'A brief history of bryological exploration in Queensland', Queensland naturalist, 58 (4/6) (2020), 25-47. Details