Members at our 2007 BBQ

Cardiff
Naturalists' Society


Cymdeithas Naturiaethwyr
Caerdydd

 

 

150 Years Old, and still active
Additional information supporting the exhibition in the Cardiff Story Museum

        

in 2017 the Cardiff Naturalists' Society started celebrating it's 150th 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 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 this exhibition. In that format it was as an embossed letterhead. It has been digitized and coloured by CNS member and 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 11th, which is precisely 150 years since the first meeting.

At this Meeting Andy Kendall (113th President) and Mike Dean (Current Secretary) presented a display of the pictures, information and fascinating stories discovered by them and Stephen Howe (110th 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 24th President

Thomas Henry Thomas, Artist, Naturalist and 16th President

Eleanor Vachell, Pioneer Female Botanist and 64th President

Mary E Gillham, A Dedicated Naturalist and 96th President

Colonel H. Morrey Salmon, Nature Photographer and 72nd 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 150th 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.

William Adams First President

Franklin G Evans Second President

John Walter Lukis Third and 5th President

William Taylor 4th President

Col. Thomas Picton Turbervill 6th President

Henry Heywood 7th and 14th President

Louis Tylor 8th President

Clement Waldron 9th President

George E. Robinson 10th President

William Galloway (later Sir William Galloway) 11th President

Peter Price the founder of the Free Library and 12th President

Charles Tanfield Vachell 13th, 19th and 26th President

Principal John Viriamu Jones 15th President

William Ronnfeldt 17th President

John Gavey (later Sir John Gavey) 18th President

Charles Whitmell 20th President

Edwin Seward 21st President

Robert William Atkinson 22nd and 54th President

Rev. Canon Charles James Thompson 23rd President

John Tatham Thompson 25th President

Prof. William Newton Parker 27th President

Joshua John Neale 28th and 45th President

Charles Henry James 29th President

Donald Rose Paterson 30th and 52nd President

Thomas William Proger 31st and 55th President

Philip Rhys Griffiths 32nd President

Principal Ernest Howard Griffiths 33rd President

Prof. John Berry Haycraft 34th President

Principal Albert Howard Trow 35th and 47th President

Archibald Brown 36th President

Ven. Archdeacon David Davies 37th President

William Savage Boulton 38th President

Alfred William Sheen 39th President

Edgar Philip Perman 40th President

John W. Rodger 41st President

Howard Mountjoy Hallett 42nd President

John Grimes 43rd President

William Evans Hoyle 44th President

Harry Edgar Salmon 46th President

Daniel Sibbering-Jones 48th President

Gilbert David Shepherd 49th President

Thomas Andrews Walker 50th President

Professor Arthur Hubert Cox 51st President

Geoffrey C.S.Ingram 53rd President

Frederick John North 56th President

Sir Cyril Fred Fox 57th President

Walter Medley Tattersall 58th President

Archibald Henry Lee 59th President

W. P. James 60th President

Ivor P. Jones 61st President

Morley Havelock Neale 62nd President

Harold Augustus Hyde 63rd President

Sir James Frederick Rees 65th President

Frank Bird 66th President

Victor Earle Nash-Williams 67th President

Henry John Randall 68th President

Dennis H. Morgan 69th President

Colin Matheson 70th President

William Rees. 71st President

Aubrey H. Jenkins 73rd President

David Dilwyn John 74th President

Arthur J Richard 75th President

Edward Lewis 76th President

Arthur Edward Wade 77th President

Phillip Andrews 78th President

Lionel F. Cowley 79th President

William Nelmes 80th President

Edith M Sheppard 81st President

Hubert Newman Savory 82nd President

James Brough 83rd President

G. T. "Jeff" Jefferson 84th President

Edgar T. Shepherd 85th President

Henry Hughes 86th President

Mary Patricia Moore 87th President

Col. Sir Cennydd George Traherne 88th President

Lt Col. R. J. H. Lloyd 89th President

Michael Frederick Claridge 90th President

Dr. Werner K. Bernfeld 91st President

Elizabeth Harriet (Hettie) Edwards 92nd President

Harman A. Bowen 93rd President

William Nelmes 94th President

W. G. Hopkins 95th President

Henry Royston Loyn 97th President

Stephen G. Harrison 98th President

Kenneth W. Henshall 99th President

Joyce Lloyd 100th President

Mairead Sutherland 101st President

Stephen Pritchard 102nd President

Ralph Hall 103rd President

Peter Ferns 104th President

Ilid E Anthony 105 President

Jeremy Knight 106th President

Professor Harold K. Lloyd 107th President

Douglas Anthony Bassett 108th President

Alan Roy Perry 109th President

Stephen Richard Howe 110th President

Jeff P. Curtis 111th President

Cynthia M. Merrett 112th President

Andrew Kendall 113th President

Linda E Nottage 114th President

Michael Sullivan (?1932 - 2003) 115th President

Joan Andrews 116th President

Patricia Wood 117th President

Roger Milton 118th President

Christopher Franks 119th President

Anthony Campbell 120th President


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 113th 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 twitter feeds for up to date news