Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/92

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Paul
82
Pauncefote

later editions were issued in two forms, with and without these plates.

Paul served on the committee of the National Floricultural Society from 1851 until it was dissolved in 1858, when the floral committee of the Royal Horticultural Society was established. In July 1858 he joined the National Rose Society, which Samuel Reynolds Hole [q. v. Suppl. II] had just founded, and in 1866 he was one of the executive committee of twenty-one members for the great International Horticultural Exhibition. He also acted as a commissioner for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. Paul was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1875, and received the Victoria medal of horticulture when it was first instituted in 1897.

Although best known as a rosarian, Paul from the outset of his career devoted attention to the improvement of other races of plants, such as hollyhocks, asters, hyacinths, phloxes, camellias, zonal pelargoniums, hollies, ivies, shrubs, fruit-trees, and Brussels sprouts. He dealt with these subjects in 'American Plants, their History and Culture' (1858), the 'Lecture on the Hyacinth' (1864), and papers on 'An Hour with the Hollyhock' (1851) and on 'Tree Scenery' (1870-2). He contributed papers on the varieties of yew and holly to the 'Proceedings' of the Royal Horticultural Society (1861, 1863). In addition to 'The Rose Annual,' which he issued from 1858 to 1881, Paul was associated with his friends Dr. Robert Hogg and Thomas Moore in the editorship of 'The Florist and Pomologist' from 1868 to 1874. The practical knowledge with which he wrote of varied types of plant life impressed Charles Darwin (cf. Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. ii.). Clear and fluent as a speaker, he proved an acceptable lecturer. One of his best lectures, 'Improvements in Plants,' at Manchester in 1869, was included in his 'Contributions to Horticultural Literature, 1843-1892' (1892).

Paul died of a paralytic seizure on 31 March 1905, and was buried in the family vault at Cheshunt cemetery. His wife, Amelia Jane Harding, predeceased him. His business was carried on by his son, Arthur William Paul. The rich library of old gardening books and general literature, which he collected at his residence, Waltham House, was sold at Sotheby's after his death, but many volumes were bought by his son.

Besides the works mentioned, Paul was author of: 1. 'Villa Gardening,' 1865; 3rd revised edit. 1876. 2. A shilling brochure, 'Roses and Rose-Culture,' 1874; 11th edit. 1910. 3. 'The Future of Epping Forest,' 1880.

[Garden, lvii. (1900), 166; lxiii. (1903), preface with portrait; and lxvii. (1905), 213; Journal of Horticulture, l. (1905), 305 (with portrait); Gardeners' Chron. 1905, i. 216, 231; Proc. Linnean Soc. 1904-5, 46-7.]

G. S. B.


PAUNCEFOTE, Sir JULIAN, first Baron Pauncefote of Preston (1828–1902), lawyer and diplomatist, born at Munich on 13 Sept. 1828, was second son of Robert Pauncefote (formerly Smith) of Preston Court, Gloucestershire (1788-1843), by his wife Emma (d. 1853), daughter of R. Smith. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Smith, of Gedling, Nottinghamshire, and Foel Allt, Wales, was first cousin of Robert Smith, first baron Carrington. Educated partly at Marlborough College, partly at Paris and Geneva, Julian was called to the bar as a member of the Inner Temple on 4 May 1852. He was private secretary to Sir William Molesworth, eighth baronet [q. v.], during the latter's short term of office as secretary of state for the colonies in 1855. On Molesworth's death he returned to the bar and practised as a conveyancer. In 1862 he went to Hong Kong, where there was an opening for a barrister, and three years afterwards he received the appointment of attorney-general in that colony. This office he held for seven years, acting for the chief justice of the supreme court when the latter was absent on leave, and preparing 'The Hong Kong Code of Civil Procedure.'

In 1872 he was appointed chief justice of the Leeward Islands, which had recently been amalgamated in one colony. On quitting Hong Kong he was formally thanked for his services by the executive and legislative councils, and received the honour of knighthood. He took up his new appointment in 1874, opened the new federal court, and put the administration of justice into working order. Towards the end of the year he returned to England and succeeded Sir Henry Holland, now Viscount Knutsford, as legal assistant under-secretary in the colonial office. In 1876, on the recommendation of a committee of the House of Commons, a similar post was created at the foreign office, and was bestowed by Lord Derby, then foreign secretary, on Pauncefote, who was specially qualified for it by his knowledge of French. His services were recognised by the bestowal on him of the K.C.M.G. in Jan. 1880, and of the C.B. three months