Article ID: CBB211337022

Katherine Sophia Baily (lady Kane) and the Irish Flora (1833) (2019)

unapi

When she was only 22 years old, Katherine Sophia Baily published, anonymously, a pocketable account of the native flora of Ireland. While her name was not on the title-page, it was evidently not a secret and was soon revealed in several Irish periodicals. The following year, 1834, Miss Baily also published two articles on arboriculture in Ireland, but nothing else, as far as can be ascertained. She was the first woman admitted to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh shortly after its founding in 1836, and was the first woman to put together a flora (preceding Mary Kirby's 1850 Flora of Leicestershire). Little has been published about Katherine Baily (1811–1886) apart from general entries in standard biographical dictionaries and bibliographies. Common to most of these is the statement that she was “of Newbury, Berkshire”, but that is not confirmed by details given in a genealogical account of the Baily family of Berkshire. Also unstated is the fact that she belonged to the Roman Catholic church, causing one Irish reviewer to remark that she was “a young lady, a native, and …, we understand, a member of that anti-botanical church”. In 1838 Katherine married the Irish scientist Robert John Kane, and when he was knighted in 1846 she became Lady Kane. Conferva kaneana McCalla was intended to honour her.

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Authors & Contributors
Pearman, David A.
Nelson, E. Charles
Anne van Weerden
Emer Lawlor
Robert E. Abrams
Ashley Elizabeth Bashaw
Concepts
Botany
Plant geography; flora
Science and society
Women in science
Science education and teaching
Diffusion of innovation; diffusion of knowledge; diffusion of technology
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century, early
20th century
17th century
Places
Ireland
Great Britain
Australia
Scotland
United States
Canada
Institutions
Museum of Irish Industry
Ireland, Ordnance Survey
Dutch East India Company
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