“Nature-formed botanists”: notes on some nineteenth century botanical guides of Snowdonia

Abstract

During the nineteenth century mountain guides could be hired at almost all the inns and hotels of Snowdonia; they were local men self-educated in subjects like botany and geology. In 1838 Edwin Lees while staying at The Dolbadara, Llanberis, an inn with a long tradition with the Snowdon guides, hired the services of such a man. Names of local guides are sparsely found among the pages of visitors-books kept in the huts on Snowdon's summit, inscribed for posterity by the Victorians, also in rare guide-books and on slate tombstones. Tom Jones of Beddgelert was guide to Sir Henry De la Beche during his geological survey of Snowdon. William Williams the botanical guide, known locally as „Will boots”, an expert on Arctic-alpine plant localities, met his end when his rope broke while he was gathering a rare fern for a client on Snowdon. Slate-quarryman Hugh Lewis, who showed Charles Babington the locality of another rare fern, was also guide to a mysterious lady fern-collector who published an account of her mountain adventures under the pseudonym „Filix-foemina” in a gardening periodical. John Hughes, whose pocket-book is still kept in the family, bears testimony of clients who benefited from his extensive local knowledge on geology and botany.