Organisation(s)
B, BM, E, FHO, G-DC, GRA, K, MANCH, MO, NY, P, SAM
Associate(s)
Johnston, Henry (Harry) Hamilton (1858-1927) (co-collector)
McClounie, John (fl. 1893-1903) (co-collector)
Biography
Naturalist Alexander Whyte worked in Malawi and Uganda under the British administration from 1891-1904. He sent significant collections of plants to Kew and the British Museum between 1893 and 1899.
Whyte was born in Fettercairn, Scotland, and attended the University of Aberdeen, distinguishing himself in natural history and botany. Before completing his studies he spent time in the West Indies and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), where his family had interests, and made significant natural history collections. He decided to remain in Ceylon, settling in Colombo as a naturalist, and was elected a Fellow of the Zoological Society in 1877.
Returning to England in 1890, Whyte found a new position with the British Foreign Office as a botanist, and later chief of scientific staff, under Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston, the new Commissioner of British Central Africa (later Nyasaland and Malawi). Soon after his arrival, Whyte helped to establish the first botanic garden in the region, at Zomba. He made extensive collections of plants over the coming years, including many taxa new to science. He also published accounts of the botany of the region and made zoological collections.
Whyte was made a Fellow of the Linnean Society and an Honorary Fellow of the Zoological Society in 1894. He was awarded the Silver Medal of the latter society in 1897 for his work in British Central Africa.
After a sojourn in England, Whyte was transferred to the Uganda administration in 1898 and there continued his scientific work, in particular establishing experimental gardens. In 1902 he was appointed Director of Agriculture in British East Africa, from which post he retired in the following year. Before returning to England, he explored the natural resources of Liberia in 1904-1905 on behalf of private firms. He died in High Barnet, aged 75.
Sources:
Anon., 1909, Kew Bulletin, 1909: 24
G. Sayre, 1975, "Cryptogamae Exsiccatae: an annotated bibliography of exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. V. Unpublished Exsiccatae: I. Collectors", Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 19(3): 413-414
H. Tilley, 2007, Africa As a Living Laboratory: 124-125.
References
Gunn, M. & Codd, L.E. Bot. Explor. S. Afr. (1981): 376; Hepper, F.N. & Neate, F., Pl. Collectors W. Africa (1971): 85; Jackson, B.D., Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew (1901): 69; Vegter, H.I., Index Herb. Coll. M (1976): 478; Vegter, H.I., Index Herb. Coll. T-Z (1988): 1151;
