| AdminHistory | Arthur Anselm Pearson (1874-1954) was an English mycologist. He was born in London on 12 April 1874, but educated in Belgium. After leaving school he worked as a seaman before joining the firm of British Belting & Asbestos Ltd in Yorkshire, where he spent the rest of his working career, eventually becoming chairman of the firm. He had an interest in music, especially madrigals, folk song, and folk dancing, joining the English Folk Dance Society in 1924 and helping with the publication of the Folksong Index.
Pearson had a keen interest in mycology and begin to research the larger fungi in c. 1910, after being encouraged by John Ramsbottom, mycologist at the Natural History Museum. He was elected president of the British Mycological Society in 1931 and again in 1952. He was also president of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union in 1946 and a fellow of the Linnean Society. He described several new species of fungi and at least eight species of fungi are named after him, including Cortinarius pearsonii, Paullicorticium pearsonii, and Squamanita pearsonii.
He died on 13 March 1854 at Hindhead. Some of his letters and manuscripts and plants are at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. |
| Description | Photograph album containing 19 black and white photographs showing members of the British Mycological Society having an outdoor dinner at Spa, Belgium, in 1938. It was presented to Arthur A. Pearson by members of the British Mycological Society. Inner front cover lettered "To Arthur A. Pearson , Treasurer & ex-President of the British Mycological Society with best wishes for a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and as a souvenir of happy days spent together at Spa, Belgium, 1938, from the United Troweldiggers."
Also includes 1 postcard [thought to show members of the British Mycological Society] addressed to Pearson dated 25 November 1938, and an envelope addressed to Mr T. Burton, ALS, containing more photographs. |