Henry Guppy was a surgeon in the British navy, which occupation led him to visit the Pacific several times. On his travels he studied ethnology, geology and the natural history of the Solomon Islands, and carried out extensive botanical research in Java (1888), Hawaii and Fiji (1896-1900), and on the Western coast of South America (1903-1904). In 1888 he landed in the Cocos Islands, where he made observations on coral formation and plant dispersal. The latter topic was his enduring interest, particularly dispersal by water.

Guppy published two volumes on his experiences in the Pacific under the title Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific between 1896 and 1899 (1903, 1906). In the second volume (1906) he discussed the role of ocean currents in carrying fruits and seeds. In 1917 he published more on the subject (Plants, Seeds and Currents in the West Indies and Azores), while his 1912 book, Studies in Seeds and Fruits, looked at the qualities of seeds and fruits that would affect chances of being dispersed by water. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1917 and elected FLS and FRS the following year.

"A singularly modest and retiring man, Mr. Guppy was probably known, except perhaps by correspondence, to very few of his fellow-scientists," wrote an obituarist in the Journal of Botany. "Many years of his life were spent on the shores of the great Oceans in the study of problems of geology and plant-dispersal, and when at home he was rarely to be met in London."

Born in Falmouth, Guppy had trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London and at Edinburgh University, after which he joined the navy in 1876. His first trip was to the China Sea in 1877, and his last to Tahiti, aged 72. At Martinique, on his return from Tahiti, Guppy passed away. He had been married twice; to Annie Jordon in 1887 and in 1900 to Letitia Warde.

Sources:
Anon., 1926, Journal of Botany, 64: 161
F.W. Oliver, 1927, Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 1926-1927: 86-87.