| Authorised form of name | Arber; Agnes (1879 - 1960); botanist |
| Other forms of surname | Robertson |
| Dates | 1879 - 1960 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | 26 Regent's Park Road, London, England |
| Date of birth | 23 February 1879 |
| Place of death | Hope Nursing Home, Cambridge, England |
| Date of death | 22/03/1960 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
St Andrew's Churchyard, Girton Church, Cambridgeshire, England |
| Occupation | Botanist |
| Research field | Comparative anatomy |
| Plant anatomy |
| Botany |
| Plant morphology |
| Activity | Education:
North London Collegiate School for Girls (1887); University College, London, BSc (1899); Newnham College, Cambridge
Career:
Rsearch Assistant to Miss Ethel Sargant, who had a private laboratory in her home, Reigate (1902); Quain Student in Biology, University College, London (1903-1908); research work at Balfour Laboratory, Newnham College (after 1909-1927); studied grasses and fossil plants; studied early printed herbals and published a book on them (1912); Research Fellow, Newnham College (1912-1913 and 1918-1920); Fellow of University College, London; Keddey Fletcher-Warr Student, University of London (1920-1923); Leverhulme Research Fellow (1936-1938).
Memberships:
FLS (1908); Botanical Society of America (Corresponding Member)
Awards/Medals:
Gold Medal of the Linnean Society 1948 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 21/03/1946 |
| Age at election | 67 |
| Proposer | Arthur George Tansley |
| Hugh Hamshaw Thomas |
| Harry Godwin |
| Ernest John Maskell |
| William Henry Lang |
| Walter Stiles |
| Frederick Ernest Weiss |
| Frederick Tom Brooks |
| David Thoday |
| Birbal Sahni |
| Francis Wall Oliver |
| Relationships | Parents: Henry Robert Robertson who ran a private school at Slough, and his wife Agnes Lucy Turner
Spouse: Edward Alexander Newell Arber, demonstrator in paleobotany, Cambridge University (5 August 1909)
Children: Muriel Agnes Arber (1913–2004), geologist |
| Published works | RCN 40465
RCN 22199
RCN 22198
RCN 11436
RCN 25259
RCN 25260
RCN 25258
RCN 16502
RCN 16503
RCN 16504
RCN 16505
RCN 16506
RCN R83664 |
| General context | First woman botanist to be elected to the Royal Society, and third woman overall to receive the Fellowship.
Noted for her studies in comparative anatomy of plants, particularly monocotyledons.
An Agnes Arber PhD thesis prize in comparative biology at the University of Cambridge was created in May 2024.
A brand of gin is named in her honour. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Sources | Sources:
DSB; DNB
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1960 vol 6 pp 1-11, plate, by H Hamshaw Thomas
References:
Joan Mason, 'The Women Fellows' Jubilee' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 125-140
Kathryn Packer, 'A Laboratory of One's Own: The Life and Works of Agnes Arber, FRS (1879-1960)' in NR 1997 vol 51 pp 87-104 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/100968547 |
| Royal Society code | NA7959 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| NLB/22/703 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Miss Agnes Robertson, [Fellow of the Royal Society], 9 Elsworthy Terrace, N.W. | 27 June 1901 |
| NLB/52/468 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr. B. Daydon Jackson | 15 December 1915 |
| NLB/58/372 | Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mrs. Agnes Arber, FRS; 52 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge | 26 April 1920 |
| RR/25/3 | Referee's report by William Henry Lang, on a paper 'On the occurrence of multinucleate cells vegetative tissues' by Rudolf Beer and Agnes Arber | [August 1918] |
| RR/25/2 | Referee's report by Harold William Taylor Wager, on a paper 'On the occurrence of multinucleate cells vegetative tissues' by Rudolf Beer and Agnes Arber | [July 1918] |
| NLB/58/360 | Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mrs. [Agnes] Arber, FRS; 52 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge | 23 April 1920 |
| NLB/57/107 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor VH [Vernon Herbert] Blackman, FRS, Chairman, Botany Committee | 24 July 1919 |
| NLB/61/835 | Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr. Agnes Arber, FRS | 31 October 1921 |
| RR/26/3 | Referee's report by Frederick Orpen Bower, on a paper 'On the development and morphology of the leaves of palms' by Agnes Arber | [October 1921] |
| NLB/53/42 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [George William] Lamplugh Esq.,Chairman of the Geology Committee of the Royal Society and FRS | 21 March 1916 |
| EC/1946/01 | Arber, Agnes: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| NLB/61 | New Letter Book volume 61, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration | 26 April 1921-11 November 1921 |
| IM/GA/WS/2291 | Arber, Agnes | 09 May 1946 |
| MC/34/4 | Letter from Agnes Arber, 52 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society | 1 March 1919 |
| MC/30/114 | Letter from [Benjamin] Dyadon Jackson, General Secretary, Linnean Society, Burlington House, London, W, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society | 8 December 1915 |
| MC/37/7 | Letter from Agnes Arber, 52 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, to the Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society | 11 January 1923 |