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

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 8: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement II)

Born: 1934, Boscombe, Hants, England

career:

Botanist, educated at Cambridge University (B.A.); appointed as State Forest Botanist in Brunei, Borneo, in 1957, to study the trees of economic importance, mainly Dipterocarps. He will work for 3 years in the field, followed by 2 years at Cambridge under Mr Corner, with the intention of studying for a Ph.D., and writing a Forester’s Manual of Brunei Dipterocarps.

Ph.D. Cambridge (1962). From Oct. 1962 Forest Botanist at Kuching, Sarawak. In 1966 appointed Lecturer in Tropical Botany at the University of Aberdeen.

Author of papers on Dipterocarpaceae, and the forests of Brunei and Sarawak, and Tree Manuals. Knema ashtonii Sinclair was named after him.

Collecting localities:

From March 1957 onwards in Brunei, NW. Borneo, up till now (Oct. same year) having collected near the Temburong, Brunei, Tutong, and Belait rivers. From 1963 onwards in Sarawak. 1963. 6 weeks’ trip to the Similajau Forest Reserve, Bintulu, across the watershed to Ulu Belaga and Sibu (Mar.-Apr.); 10 days in Bako National Park (May)¹; 4 weeks in the Tatau-Mukah area (Sept.-Oct.).-1964. To Bt. Kajang and the Ulu Mujong part of the Hose Mts (7 weeks, from Mar. 10 onwards, collecting c. 800 nos); Santubong (2.5 weeks from May 29 onwards); Lambir Hills (2nd half of June, coll. 150 nos); accompanying T D. Pennington (see there) for a week in Nov.-1965. Ulu Dapoi, Tinjar (Mar.-Apr.), plateau of Usun Apau (coll. 600 nos); Ulu Temburong (in Brunei) for 3 weeks; Bako National Park (July-Aug.).

collections:

Brunei (Borneo) collections in: Herb. Leiden [L], Sing. [SING], Kew [K], Arn. Arb. [A], Bog. [BO], Kepong [KEP], Sandakan [SAN], Princes Risborough, Kuching [SAR], Brisbane [BRI], Brit. Mus. [BM], New York [NY], Manila [PNH], Paris [P], and Florence [FI], will be distributed in the above-mentioned order. Woody plants numbered with S. (Sarawak) numbers 5700-5950 and 7800-7900; BRUN (Brunei) numbers 1-800 (so far in Oct. 1957); herbs and lower plants numbered A1-200 (so far), his own collecting numbers; besides 350 nos collected jointly with G.H.S. Wood (see there) in Brunei, distributed from Sandakan with SAN numbers.

In Herb. Brit. Mus. [BM] besides: small collection of ferns from Brazil (coil. 1954).

Mostly palms and dipterocarps in 1963. Also dupl. in Edinb. Herb. [E].

literature:

(1) P.S. Ashton: ‘The Plants and Vegetation of Bako National Park’ (Mal. Nat. J. 24, 1971, p. 151-162, map, pl. 53a-58b).

photo gallery:

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