Career

Collecting localities

Collections

Literature

Biographical data

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

Born: 1906, England.

career:

Botanist, educated at Cambridge (M.A.); Assistant Director, Botanic Gardens, Singapore, 1929-41. During war years the Japanese enabled him to continue his work; in 1947 he was appointed Principal Field Officer for S. America of Unesco, and Director of the Hylean Amazon project; in 1949 Lecturer in taxonomy, Cambridge.

At Singapore he trained monkeys to collect fertile material from trees.³ Author of systematic papers on Fungi, the genus Ficus, etc., principally published in Gard. Bull. Str. Settlements.¹

Later Reader, and in 1966 appointed Professor of Tropical Botany.

He received the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1960, and the Linnean gold Medal in 1970.

Leader of several expeditions including the Royal Society Expedition to the Solomon Islands in 1965.⁷

April 1972 he went for a study visit to Bogor, but left for Singapore 3 weeks after his arrival. 

Thrixspermum corneri Holttum and other plants were named after him.

Collecting localities:²

Malay Peninsula. 1929. Perlis (Nov.), vicinity of Kangar, neighbourhood of Singapore, G. Panti in Johore.-1930. Negri Sembilan (June 23-July 8), e.g. at Kuala Pilah, Jelebu and G. Angsi; Tembeling (Nov. 2-Dec. 7), Singapore, G. Panti in Johore.- 1931. Short exp. to the Sedili River, Johore (Febr.); Pahang (May-June).-1932. Visit to the East Coast, P. Tioman and other outlying islands; stopping at several villages on the Pahang coast, Kemaman and Nipa rivers, Bukit Kajang; a number of short excursions to southern Johore, especially to the Sedili River and surrounding forest; swamp forest in Singapore.-1933. Swamp forest Singapore; few excursions to the Sungei Tiram, Johore.-1934. Swampy forest of Johore; exp. to the East Coast (June 9-24), Jason Bay.⁴ and swampy forest on the Sedili Kechil River; short trips to the vicinity of Mawai, Johore.-1935. Swampy forest E. Johore; short excursions along the new Jemaluang Road (Febr. 1-10, May 10-15); Mawai Distr. (Johore); E. coast of Pahang (Aug.), P. Tioman and other islands; Bukit Kajang and Kemaman (Oct. 29-Dec. 1).-1936. At the end of Febr. a fortnight travelling through Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor; in July a month in Kedah, Perlis, Penang and Upper Perak; in April the neighbourhood of Mawai and numerous one-day excursions to this district.-1937. Apr. 18 for 3 weeks to Kelantan and Trengganu; Fraser’s Hill (Aug.); exp. to the summit of G. Tahan: leaving Kuala Tembeling (Sept. 6) and returning on the 18th; several one-day excursions to the Sedili River in E. Johore.-1938. In the first half of the year a number of visits to neighbouring parts of Johore and regularly in the Bt Timah Reserve (Singapore); since July 16 on furlough.-1939. Since May visits to southern Johore; near the Sedili River (July, 1 week collecting).-1941. Langkawi (Nov. 13-22); G. Baling in Kedah (25).-1959. Sarawak; Bako National Park.-1960. Papua, Central Distr.: Waitape (5000 ft) (Aug. 24) and probably elsewhere in Australian New Guinea.-1961. N. Borneo, Royal Society Expedition to Mt Kinabalu (see also Chew Wee Lek).⁵-1964. N. Borneo, 2nd Royal Society Expedition to Mt Kinabalu (Jan. 14-May 23).⁶-1965. Royal Society Expedition to the Solomon Islands,⁷ partly accompanied by T.C. Whitmore (see there).

collections:

Herb. Sing. [SING]: many Fungi, but phanerogams too; Herb. Leiden [L]: Fungi dupl. Dupl. Mal. Penins. in Herb. Edinb. [E]. The Royal Society Expeditions collections (numbered RSNB and RSS) will be distributed from Kew [K].

literature:

(1) Also of ‘Wayside trees of Malaya’ (Singapore 1940, 2 vols) and of several other books on theoretical botany, etc.

(2) Data extracted from the Annual Reports of the Singapore Gardens.

(3) cf. M.A.H.A.Magaz. 10, 1940, p. 147-149.

(4) J.H. Kern & C.G.G.J. van Steenis: ‘An interesting new record from the Malayan beach: Spilanthes urens Jacq., its synonymy and distribution’ (Gard. Bull. Sing. 17, 1959, p. 273-275).

(5) Cf. Fl. Mal. Bull. no 16, 1961, p. 804-806. E.J.H. Corner: ‘The Royal Society Expedition to North Borneo 1961’ (Emp. For. Rev. 1962, p. 224-233, route map, 4 photogr.); ditto ‘Reports’ (Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 175, 1964, p. 9-56, 24 photogr.).

See also ‘A discussion on the Results of the Royal Society Expedition to North Borneo, 1961’ (Proc. Roy. Soc. B 161, 1964, p. 1-91).

(6) E.J.H. Corner: ‘Exploring North Borneo’ (New Scientist no 366, 1963, p. 488-490, 3 photogr.; ‘Mount Kinabalu East’ (Sabah Soc. J. 4, 1965, p. 170-817, 7 fig., 8 pl.).

(7) A discussion of the Results was organized by Corner; published in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 255 (1969) p. 185-631, 196 fig., by several authors.

biographical data:

Chron. Bot. 4, 1938, p. 259 + photogr.; Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 2, 1970, p. 322-324.