HanceHF

Career

Collections

Literature

Biographical data

Hance, Henry Fletcher

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)

Born: 1827, Old Brompton, London, England. Died: 1886, Amoy, China.

career:

Was educated partly in London, partly in Belgium. He entered the Civil Service in Hongkong in 1844, was transferred to Canton in 1854; in 1861 appointed Vice-Consul at Whampoa near Canton and in 1886 Consul at Amoy. He devoted his spare time to botany, and was an expert linguist, though he flatly refused to learn Chinese! He was buried in Hongkong.

Author of many botanical papers.

The genus Hancea Seem., Ilex hanceana Max. and other plants are named after him.

collections:

Herb. Brit. Mus. [BM]: > 22000 nos from China; Herb. Kew [K]: 614 nos from China. In Herb. Bot. Gard. St Petersb. (= Leningrad [LE]): China and Java plants, the latter possibly not collected by himself. In Herb. Brussels (with Herb. Martius) [BR]: plants from Penang; Ceylon, China, and Hongkong. A Scirpus, no 1365, from Singapore, in Gray Herb. [GH]. In Herb. Stockholm [S]: 249 dupl. China and Hongkong. As he paid a visit to the Philippines in 1871,¹ he may have collected plants in that archipelago too; till now there are no indications pointing in that direction.

literature:

(1) cf. Journ. Bot. 12, 1874, p. 241.

biographical data:

Pritzel, Thes. Lit. Bot., 1872; Bretschneider, Hist. Bot. Discov. China, 1898, p. 365, 532, 632-652; Wittrock, Icon. Bot. Berg., 2, 1905, p. 85, t. 85; Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936; E.H.M. Cox, Plant-hunting in China, 1945, p. 42.

	Career Collections Literature Biographical data
	Hance, Henry Fletcher
	(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors) (Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)
	Born: 1827, Old Brompton, London, England. Died: 1886, Amoy, China.
	career: Was educated partly in London, partly in Belgium. He entered the Civil Service in Hongkong in 1844, was transferred to Canton in 1854; in 1861 appointed Vice-Consul at Whampoa near Canton and in 1886 Consul at Amoy. He devoted his spare time to botany, and was an expert linguist, though he flatly refused to learn Chinese! He was buried in Hongkong. Author of many botanical papers. The genus Hancea Seem., Ilex hanceana Max. and other plants are named after him.
	collections: Herb. Brit. Mus. [BM]: > 22000 nos from China; Herb. Kew [K]: 614 nos from China. In Herb. Bot. Gard. St Petersb. (= Leningrad [LE]): China and Java plants, the latter possibly not collected by himself. In Herb. Brussels (with Herb. Martius) [BR]: plants from Penang; Ceylon, China, and Hongkong. A Scirpus, no 1365, from Singapore, in Gray Herb. [GH]. In Herb. Stockholm [S]: 249 dupl. China and Hongkong. As he paid a visit to the Philippines in 1871,¹ he may have collected plants in that archipelago too; till now there are no indications pointing in that direction.
	literature: (1) cf. Journ. Bot. 12, 1874, p. 241.
	biographical data: Pritzel, Thes. Lit. Bot., 1872; Bretschneider, Hist. Bot. Discov. China, 1898, p. 365, 532, 632-652; Wittrock, Icon. Bot. Berg., 2, 1905, p. 85, t. 85; Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936; E.H.M. Cox, Plant-hunting in China, 1945, p. 42.