| AdminHistory | Edmund Davall (1762-1798) was born on 24 November 1762 in England to Edmund Davall (1737-1784) and Charlotte Thomasset (1728-1788) both of Swiss origin. After his father's death, Davall returned to Switzerland with his mother and took up residence with his aunts at Orbe, Canton de Vaud. Here he created a botanical garden which he looked after.
In 1787, he discovered different plants with Albrecht von Haller (1758-1823), which is classified in the nomenclature of Jean Louis Antoine Reynier (1762-1824). It was his neighbor Charles Victor de Bonstetten (1745-1832), the last bailiff of Nyon and member of the Groupe de Coppet , who encouraged him to get in touch with Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach (1748-1830), pastor and naturalist. He is also related to Jean Senebier (1742-1809), pastor, botanist and librarian of Geneva , La Chenal and the great naturalist Horace Benedict de Saussure (1740-1799), who came to visit him in Orbe. Saussure cites Davall in his Travels in the Alps published in Neuchâtel in 1796.
Davall became interested in botany, making the acquaintance of Edward Forster and of James Edward Smith, and was one of the original Fellows of the Linnean Society. He was elected as a Fellow on the 15 July 1788.
In November 1789 Davall married a Swiss woman named De Cottens, by whom he had a daughter, who died in infancy, and a son, Edmond (born 25 March 1793), who went on to be a botanist and politician.
Davall died on 26 September 1798, leaving an unfinished work on the Swiss Flora, and his name was perpetuated in the genus of ferns Davallia by his correspondent Smith. |
| Description | Annotated copy of 'The Naturalist's Journal', London, 1775 (established by Daines Barrington) kept by Edmund Davall "at Orbe in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, Latitude 46 [degrees] 49' " from 1783 to 1792. Comprises a tabulated diary with details of dates, places, the weather, types of plants, birds, insects and other animals and general observations. Includes a MS note (partly in French) and a compass diagram tipped on to the fly leaf;
Includes a letter of transmittal (in French) from Madam M. Hager-Davall, Aarau, 31 January 1949. |