Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Plant, Thomas Livesley
PLANT, THOMAS LIVESLEY (1819–1883), meteorologist, the son of George Halewood Plant, iron merchant, by his wife Ann Livesley, was born at Low Moor, Bradford, Yorkshire, and educated at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, near Durham. From 1849 to 1881 he represented Messrs. W. H. Smith & Son, advertising contractors, in Birmingham. He died suddenly on 31 Aug. 1883. He married, on 21 June 1845, Jane Horne.
His attention had early been turned to the study of meteorology, and for the last forty-six years of his life he kept systematic records. He was author of ‘Meteorology: its Study important for our Good,’ 8vo, Birmingham, 1862. He read a paper before the British Association in 1862 ‘On Meteorology, with a Description of Meteorological Instruments,’ which contained an account of Osler's anemometer, and another paper in 1865 ‘On the Anomalies of our Climate;’ but neither was printed in the ‘Report.’ Plant was a constant contributor to the local press on meteorological subjects, and furnished meteorological information to the ‘Times’ newspaper.
[Athenæum, September 1883, p. 310; information kindly supplied by his son, Mr. W. E. Plant; Brit. Mus. Cat.]