| Activity | LLB Cambridge 1769. FLS 1789. Educated at Eton College, 1758-1762.
Appointed magistrate and deputy lieutenant for the county of Suffolk, and on removal to Walcot House, Diss, Norfolk, to the same offices for that county. On the establishment of the volunteer system he became lieutenant-colonel of the Diss Volunteers.
Described by Sir James Edward Smith as one of the best English botanists; Smith named fern genus 'Woodwardia' in his honour. Contributed seven papers to the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" and the "Transactions of the Linnean Society" between 1784 and 1794, on fungi and algae. Provided information for Smith and Sowerby's "English Botany", second edition of Withering's "Systematic Arrangement of British Plants", and Thomas Martyn's edition of Philip Miller's "Gardeners' Dictionary". |