Biography

Rev. George Harvey Vachell was chaplain to the British East India Company's factory at Macao. Vachell was born in Littleport, Cambridgeshire and graduated from Cambridge University in 1821. He arrived in China in 1828 and remained resident in Macau until 1836, bar a leave of absence in 1832. In his spare time he collected plants in the vicinity, discovering a number of new taxa. He gave his collections to Rev. Prof. J.S. Henslow of Cambridge, who passed on material to W.J. Hooker and John Lindley. The genus Vachellia Wight & Arn. (Fabaceae) was named in his honour. When a project was initiated to start a museum at the factory, Vachell was named its curator, but it was never completed due to the East India Company's trade monopoly ending in 1834 and the disbandment of the factory.

Sources:
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 294-298
E.H.M. Cox, 1945, Plant Hunting in China: 67
F.T. Fan, 2004, British naturalists in Qing China: 22
1950, Flora Malesiana, 1: 536.

Biography

Rev. George Harvey Vachell was chaplain to the British East India Company's factory at Macao. Vachell was born in Littleport, Cambridgeshire and graduated from Cambridge University in 1821. He arrived in China in 1828 and remained resident in Macau until 1836, bar a leave of absence in 1832. In his spare time he collected plants in the vicinity, discovering a number of new taxa. He gave his collections to Rev. Prof. J.S. Henslow of Cambridge, who passed on material to W.J. Hooker and John Lindley. The genus Vachellia Wight & Arn. (Fabaceae) was named in his honour. When a project was initiated to start a museum at the factory, Vachell was named its curator, but it was never completed due to the East India Company's trade monopoly ending in 1834 and the disbandment of the factory.

Sources:
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 294-298
E.H.M. Cox, 1945, Plant Hunting in China: 67
F.T. Fan, 2004, British naturalists in Qing China: 22
1950, Flora Malesiana, 1: 536.