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William Carey: Missionary and Botanist, 2005
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CreatorKeith FarrerDescriptionThere are many biographies of Carey, some very good. However, Carey’s consuming
interest in botany, has been glosiied, omitted altogether, or focused on his gardening.
However, recourse to the Linnean Society, of which Carey was a Fellow, has, from
Society records, and by referring the author to others, yielded a lot of hitherto hidden
information concerning Carey’s considerable contributions to botany. These have
come to light via the Liverpool Museum and Botanic Garden, the Royal Botanic
Garden, Kew, etc. and include letters in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, to an Australian
correspondent who sent him specimens. In addition, evidence of the still high regard
for Carey in India is included.
The first part of this book summarises Carey’s early life and the missionary enterprise,
including his brilliant linguistic achievements and his deep knowledge of Indian
religious literature. For these and the initiation of the Bengali renaissance he was
deservedly considered to be a leading orientalist of his time. Part II seeks to place
botany in the scientific context of the time, shows how Carey’s boyhood love of plants
and gardens led to botany, discusses in non-technical language his place in the botany
of the beginning of the nineteenth century and his important contributions to it, and
his introduction to Bengal of the new technologies of the steam engine and continuous
paper-making.
This book adds significantly to an understanding of the whole man that was William
Carey.
The author Dr. Keith Farrer is an Old Boy and Life Member of the Board of Carey Baptist Grammar School, Melbourne, one of Australia's leading independent
co-educational schools with many international
contacts, and a Fellow and former member of
Council of Whitley College within the University of
Melbourne. Dr. Farrer is also a scientist, though
not a botanist. He is a Foundation Fellow and
now Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy
of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the International Academy
of Food Science and Technology. In 1979 he was appointed OBE for services to science
and industry. He was stimulated to explore William Carey's botanical achievements by
the Indian Government’s recognition in 1993 of the bicentenary of Carey’s arrival
in India and by the lack of coverage in the many
Carey biographies of Carey’s standing with the
botanists of his day.
With considerable help from the Archivist of
the Linnean Society in London, the outline of
Carey’s contributions to botany emerged from the
botanical literature to the extent that it seemed
essential that some account of his botanical work
be published. Dr. Farrer also holds an MA in
History and is well qualified to write such a book
as this.
DateBetween 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2005Year2005PublisherCarey Baptist Grammar SchoolTypeBookCollectionPublicationsKeywordMissionariesISBN0646452800LanguageEnglishCategoryPublications | Books
interest in botany, has been glosiied, omitted altogether, or focused on his gardening.
However, recourse to the Linnean Society, of which Carey was a Fellow, has, from
Society records, and by referring the author to others, yielded a lot of hitherto hidden
information concerning Carey’s considerable contributions to botany. These have
come to light via the Liverpool Museum and Botanic Garden, the Royal Botanic
Garden, Kew, etc. and include letters in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, to an Australian
correspondent who sent him specimens. In addition, evidence of the still high regard
for Carey in India is included.
The first part of this book summarises Carey’s early life and the missionary enterprise,
including his brilliant linguistic achievements and his deep knowledge of Indian
religious literature. For these and the initiation of the Bengali renaissance he was
deservedly considered to be a leading orientalist of his time. Part II seeks to place
botany in the scientific context of the time, shows how Carey’s boyhood love of plants
and gardens led to botany, discusses in non-technical language his place in the botany
of the beginning of the nineteenth century and his important contributions to it, and
his introduction to Bengal of the new technologies of the steam engine and continuous
paper-making.
This book adds significantly to an understanding of the whole man that was William
Carey.
The author Dr. Keith Farrer is an Old Boy and Life Member of the Board of Carey Baptist Grammar School, Melbourne, one of Australia's leading independent
co-educational schools with many international
contacts, and a Fellow and former member of
Council of Whitley College within the University of
Melbourne. Dr. Farrer is also a scientist, though
not a botanist. He is a Foundation Fellow and
now Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy
of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the International Academy
of Food Science and Technology. In 1979 he was appointed OBE for services to science
and industry. He was stimulated to explore William Carey's botanical achievements by
the Indian Government’s recognition in 1993 of the bicentenary of Carey’s arrival
in India and by the lack of coverage in the many
Carey biographies of Carey’s standing with the
botanists of his day.
With considerable help from the Archivist of
the Linnean Society in London, the outline of
Carey’s contributions to botany emerged from the
botanical literature to the extent that it seemed
essential that some account of his botanical work
be published. Dr. Farrer also holds an MA in
History and is well qualified to write such a book
as this.
DateBetween 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2005Year2005PublisherCarey Baptist Grammar SchoolTypeBookCollectionPublicationsKeywordMissionariesISBN0646452800LanguageEnglishCategoryPublications | Books
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Carey has been unable to trace the copyright owner and item has been reproduced in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from copyright owners. No re-use permitted.
Keith Farrer, William Carey: Missionary and Botanist, 2005 (Between 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2005). Carey Collections, accessed 07/02/2025, https://archives.carey.com.au/nodes/view/4033