Yorkshire Mycological Committee

The Yorkshire Mycological Committee is a committee within the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union.[1] First formed in 1892, it was the first permanent organisation dedicated to the study of fungi in Great Britain.[2] It was the principal founding organisation of the British Mycological Society.[3]

History

The Mycological Committee was first founded in 1892 so that the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union might better organise its recording of fungi across Yorkshire via annual 'fungal forays'. The Rev. William Fowler was appointed as its first Chairman with Charles Crossland being appointed its first secretary. George Edward Massee would succeed Fowler and together with Crossland would run the Committee until 1916.[4]

The period of Massee's tenure would see the Mycological Committee function completely independently of the British Mycological Society (a national mycological society founded primarily by members of Mycological Committee.[5] This was primarily due to a disagreement of an unknown nature between Massee and Carleton Rea, a prominent figure in the British Mycological Society.[2]

By 1903, the Committee was so prominent that it attracted the attention of George Francis Atkinson who attended the 1903 foray as a guest of George Edward Massee. Notably, he did not attend any events hosted by the British Mycological Society.[6]

Notable members

George Francis Atkinson (1854–1918; visiting member)

George Edward Massee (1845–1917)

Charles Crossland (1844–1916)

James Needham (1849–1913)

Kathleen Sampson (1892–1980)

Henry Thomas Soppitt (1858–1899)

Harold Wager (1862–1929)

Roy Watling (b. 1938)

References
  1. Blackwell, Elizabeth (1961). "Fungus forays in Yorkshire and the history of the Mycological Committee". The Naturalist. 86: 163–168.
  2. Smith, Nathan (2021). "Of stumps and stipes: comparisons between the cultures and identities of Yorkshire cricket and mycology at the turn of the twentieth century". Notes and Records. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2021.0036. S2CID 237435704.
  3. Webster, John (1997). "Presidential Address 1996 : The British Mycological Society, 1896–1996". Mycological Research. 101 (10): 1153–1178. doi:10.1017/S0953756297004553.
  4. Blackwell, Elizabeth (1961). "Links with Past Yorkshire Mycologists". The Naturalist. 86: 53-66.
  5. Smith, Nathan (2020). "Narrative Histories in Mycology and the Legacy of George Edward Massee (1845-1917)". Archives of Natural History. 47 (2): 361–380.
  6. Atkinson, George. "Atkinson's 1903 Diary" (PDF). Cornell University. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
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