Catalogue description British Museum (Natural History): Department of Botany: Fern Section Correspondence and Papers

The series consists of the correspondence of A H G Alston, J A Crabbe and various other sectional papers, reports etc.

The correspondence of A H G Alston is arranged alphabetically but the series as a whole has not been arranged or listed in detail.

Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

'A H G Alston', P R Bell, Taxon, 8: 83-85 (1959).

• People: Arthur Hugh Garfit Alston (1902-1958)
• James Albert Crabbe (1914-)
• Anthony Clive Jermy (1932-)

Arthur Hugh Garfit Alston (1902-1958) was the first pteridologist to work at the Museum. He joined the staff in 1930, having studied at Oxford and worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at the Botanic Gardens in Peradeniya, Ceylon. Alston remained head of the Fern Section until his suicide in 1958, with an absence from 1939 to 1944 in the Ministry of Home Security. Alston had a special interest in the genus Selaginella, and in tropical ferns in general, and was author of many books and papers. He was President of the British Pteridological Society from 1947 to 1958. Alston was assisted from 1932 by James A Crabbe (b 1914), and succeeded in 1958 by Anthony Clive Jermy.