Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Curtis, Samuel
CURTIS, SAMUEL (1779–1860), florist, was born in 1779 at Walworth in Surrey. In 1801 he married the only daughter of William Curtis, author of ‘Flora Londinensis,’ and founder of the ‘Botanical Magazine,’ thereby succeeding to its proprietorship. Not long after he removed to Glazenwood, near Coggeshall, Essex. The editorship of the ‘Botanical Magazine’ was resigned by Dr. Sims in 1826, Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Hooker succeeding him. In 1827 Curtis had the misfortune to lose his wife, the mother of a numerous family. About 1846 he sold his rights in the magazine, just when lithography was about to supersede the slow and costly plate-printing. He retired to an estate he bought, La Chaire, at Rozel in Jersey, where he died on 6 Jan. 1860.
[Bot. Mag. vol. lxxxvi. (1860), extra leaf, issued with No. 877, February.]