Charles Alexander Johns

Victorian botanist, social historian and educator C A Johns is best known for the classic guide Flowers of the Field (1851). Celebrated in his lifetime by readers of all ages for his accessible books on British plants, trees, birds, geology, gardening, Johns spent much of his early life in Cornwall which he explored in his masterly A Week at the Lizard (1848), and where he became mentor and friend of Charles Kingsley. After degree work at Dublin and ordination, his primary life's work became teaching - wherein he pioneered many modern methods in well-rounded curricula, with special reference to the sciences and particularly botany. He founded preparatory schools well-known for their advanced offerings and modern equipment. His full story is told in A Passion for Nature, 19th-century Naturalism in the Circle of Charles Alexander Johns (2008).