in 2017 the Cardiff Naturalists' Society started celebrating it's 150^th Anniversary and we had an exhibition at the Cardiff Story Museum running in the latter part of the year

These pages were provided to give additional information we were not able to fit in the exhibition, and are still being developed as we find and place more fascinating aspects of our history online.

As with all such projects the quantity and quality of the information presented depends on time to do in depth research and as this work is being done as a voluntary task it is quite possible that some errors or omissions have crept in. If you do find such, or you have additional information that you think would be valuable and you would like us to share on these pages, then please do make contact with us via the publicity link on the contacts page.

Within these pages you can find Presidents of the Society who: -

• Founded the Society
• Donated a telescope to the borough of Cardiff
• Worked out how to stop coal dust exploding
• Campaigned for sewage to be treated before being put into the Severn estuary
• Completed the first Flora of Glamorgan with a lot of help from his daughter who also became the first female President
• The first Chancellor of the University
• Found the first Welsh Dinosaur remains
• Beat Marconi to the wireless experiments at Lavernock
• Designed the Old Library (and thought he should have designed the town hall and the museum)
• Was an expert on the brewing of sake
• Leased Skomer & Grassholm to setup a conservation zone
• Served in the Boer War, Commanded the Welsh Hospital At Netley & in India during WWI and who died in service in the infirmary in WWII aged 76
• Was Austro-Hungarian Consul for Cardiff
• Was one of the first up the Matterhorn
• Repaired an eye with an electromagnet
• Was the "Father of British Bird Photography"
• Declared welsh a "dead language" causing a storm at the University
• Who's wife was an accomplished artist
• Collected fossils in the Falklands
• Were the first, second and third Directors of the National Museum of Wales
• Won the Military Cross at the first battle of Gaza
• Was the first British woman to Antarctica

And many more such stories...

The Logo above is one that was rediscovered by members of the society when researching for that exhibition. In that format it was as an embossed letterhead. It has been digitized and coloured by CNS member and an accomplished artist Rhian Kendall and is being used again for the first time in over 100 years

The 2017 Annual General meeting of the Society was held on September 11^th, which is precisely 150 years since the first meeting.

At this Meeting Andy Kendall (113^th President) and Mike Dean (Current Secretary) presented a display of the pictures, information and fascinating stories discovered by them and Stephen Howe (110^th President) during the researching of the history for the exhibition

This first set of pages was that created specifically to support the exhibition

Robert Drane Founder and 24^th President

Thomas Henry Thomas, Artist, Naturalist and 16^th President

Eleanor Vachell, Pioneer Female Botanist and 64^th President

Mary E Gillham, A Dedicated Naturalist and 96^th President

Colonel H. Morrey Salmon, Nature Photographer and 72^nd President

The Society Today

The Society Library

Famous Speakers

See our Full list of Presidents

Other Pictures from our Archive

Pictures on these pages unless otherwise credited are from Morrey Salmon, Dr Mary Gillham, Andy Kendall but mostly from unknown members of the society, or copies of information from the society and related archives.

These additional pages added since the exhibition opening provide information that we have sourced and collated regarding a number of our early presidents. Inspired by the succesful reception of the Exhibition at the Cardiff Story Museum, it was intended to continue this effort through our 150^th year, and this project has been substantially completed on the 8th of April 2018 so the goal was met.

it is worth noting at this point that decisions have been made in relation to living people and we have only placed a page on-line if they have agreed to it, and some have not yet decided or not agreed to what they would like to be shown. it is also worth noting that as in any project of this scope it is almost certain that there are some omissions or errors and for that I (Andy Kendall) take full responsibility and would ask that you contact me through the email or phone details on the contacts page and I will be happy to revise whatever needs revision. Also, if on reading any of this you feel that you have additional information on any of these people or events that you would like to share we would very much like to hear from you.

As an additional index we are now able to provide a partial list of the officers of the sections

The Society Sections

The bulk of these pages are created by Andy Kendall 113^th President, and I take personal responsibility for any errors or omissions in the pages. If you do find any such, then please contact me via the publicity officer link on the contacts page. Key research source links used throughout these pages are thanked where noted in the pages and and especially include the following resources used more generally throughout: -

Useful links are: -

Welsh Newspapers Online

Welsh Journals including our transactions

Dictionary of Welsh Biography

Glamorgan Archives

The Gazette

The excellent scanned archives maintained by the National Library of Wales have been invaluable in providing primary sources for many things which otherwise I have not been able to find confirmation of, and have allowed the presidential history pages to be rounded out from the often limited obituaries that we have in our transactions and newsletters. Another excellent resource is the Glamorgan Archives where we have deposited many of our historical documents for safe keeping for the future.

If you want to read about the ways we study the wildlife and environment of the Cardiff area and its surroundings, and about the talks we have about the wildlife of the world, and find the programme of talks, walks and other events that we do then please take a look at our main website, our blog and our facebook and BlueSky feeds for up to date news