| AdminHistory | Arthur Hugh Garfit Alston 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, and succeeded in 1958 by Anthony Clive Jermy.
References:
Bell, P R, 1959. A H G Alston. Taxon, 8: 83-85. |