Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hulme, Frederick Edward

by George Simonds Boulger

HULME, FREDERICK EDWARD (1841–1909), botanist, only son of Frederick William Hulme, landscape painter, was born at Hanley, Staffordshire, on 29 March 1841. Brought to London as a child, and sent first to the Western grammar school, he studied art at South Kensington from his seventeenth year and became art-master of Marlborough College, in 1870 professor of geometrical drawing at King's College, London, in 1885 lecturer to the Architectural Association, and examiner to the Science and Art Department and the London Chamber of Commerce. A lover of nature rather than a student of natural science, he interested himself in the folklore of plants and sketched with skill plants and flowers. He was a voluminous writer on various themes, and his chief works were illustrated by coloured plates from his own drawings. In 1875 he began the issue of 'Familiar Wild Flowers,' his best-known work, with numerous plates. Eight volumes appeared in his lifetime, and a ninth was just ready at his death. The whole work has been repeatedly reissued serially.

Hulme also furnished plates for books by other writers, notably 'Familiar Garden Flowers,' by Shirley Hibberd, the companion series to his own 'Familiar Wild Flowers' (1879); and 'Sylvan Spring' (1880), by Mr. Francis George Heath.

Hulme was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1869, and fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1872. For several years he was also a vice-president of the Selborne Society, with whose principles he was in thorough sympathy. He died at Kew on 11 April 1909, and was buried at Brookwood. He married in 1866 Emily, daughter of John Napper of Herfield Place, Sussex. His wife, two sons, and two daughters survived him, the elder son, Frank Howell Hulme, being dean of Bloemfontein.

Hulme's chief works were:

1. 'The Principles of Ornamental Art,' 1875.
2. 'The Town, College and Neighbourhood of Marlborough,' 1881.
3. 'The History, Principles and Practice of Heraldry,' 1891; 2nd edit. 1897.
4. 'The History of Symbolism in Christian Art,' 1891; revised 1899.
5. 'The Birth and Development of Ornament,' 1893; reissued in 1894.

Minor works which chiefly consisted of art students' text-books include:

1. 'Sketches from Nature of Plant Form,' 1867.
2. 'The Garland of the Year with twelve chromographs of flowers,' issued anonymously, 1873.
3. 'Plants, their Natural Growth and Ornamental Treatment,' 1874.
4. 'Art Instruction in

England,' 1882.

5. 'Myth Land,' 1886.
6. 'Wayside Sketches,' 1889.
7. 'Natural History Lore and Legend,' 1895.
8. 'Wild Fruits of the Countryside,' with 36 coloured plates, 1902.
9. 'Butterflies and Moths of the Countryside,' with. 35 coloured plates, 1903.
10. 'Wild Flowers in their Seasons,' with 80 coloured plates, 1907.
11. 'Familiar Swiss Flowers,' with 100 coloured plates, 1908.
12. 'That Rock-garden of Ours,' with 50 illustrations, 1909.

[The Times, 14 April 1909; Journal of Botany, 1909, p. 235; Journal of Horticulture, 1909, lviii. 360; Proc. Linnean Soc, 1908-9, pp. 41-2; Selborne Mag., 1909, xx. 77; information from the family.]

G. S. B.