John Horsefield, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJohn Horsefield
British botanist
Date of Birth: 18-Jul-1792
Date of Death: 06-Mar-1854
Profession: weaver, botanist
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About John Horsefield
- John Horsefield (18 July 1792 – 6 March 1854) was an English handloom weaver and amateur botanist after whom the daffodil Narcissus 'Horsfieldii' is named.
- Horsefield had little formal schooling, and acquired most of his botanical knowledge through self-study and involvement in local botanical groups, which provided a venue for working class people to share knowledge, in part by pooling money to purchase books. Horsefield founded one such society, the Prestwich Botanical Society, and was later president of a larger botanical society covering a wide area around north Manchester.
- He made several botanical discoveries and cultivated two new plants.
- A number of his writings about the working class and also some poetry were published, but nothing concerning botany other than in connection with the subject of the working class.
- He lived most of his life near Whitefield in Lancashire, in dire poverty.
- At the time of his death he had been married for 42 years and had fathered eleven children.
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