Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 53.djvu/314

 's ‘Encyclopædia of Plants,’ 1829; Halsted's ‘Little Botanist,’ 1835; and the first six plates of Salter and Blanford's ‘Palæontology of Niti’ (1865), a unique set of which is in the British Museum (Natural History), photographic copies alone appearing with the work itself. It was apparently in his honour that A. D. D'Orbigny named the molluscan genus Sowerbya.



SOWERBY, JOHN EDWARD (1825–1870), botanical draughtsman, born in Lambeth on 17 Jan. 1825, was eldest son, by his wife Judith, daughter of John Hindsley, of Charles Edward Sowerby (1795–1842), an associate of the Linnean Society, who brought out the smaller (second) edition of ‘English Botany’ by his father, [q. v.] John inherited a taste for botanical drawing, and in 1841 produced his first work—the plates for his father Charles Edward Sowerby's ‘Illustrated Catalogue of British Plants.’ His life was thenceforth mainly spent in illustrating botanical works, in collaboration with (1791–1880) [q. v.], and Charles Pierpoint Johnson, who contributed the text. His only independent work was ‘An Illustrated Key to the Natural Orders of British Wild Flowers,’ 8vo, London, 1865. He died on 28 Jan. 1870 at Lavender Hill, Clapham. He married on 10 Feb. 1853 Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Roger and Ann Dewhurst of Preston, Lancashire. She survived him, and, in recognition of the scientific value of his work, was granted a civil list pension.

The chief works that Sowerby illustrated were:
 * 1) ‘The Ferns of Great Britain … Descriptions … by C. Johnson,’ 8vo, London, 1855.
 * 2) ‘The Fern Allies [a supplement to the preceding] … Descriptions … by C. Johnson,’ 8vo, London, 1856.
 * 3) ‘British Poisonous Plants,’ by C. Johnson (the twenty-eight plates were copies from ‘English Botany’), 8vo, London, 1856.
 * 4) ‘The Grasses of Great Britain … Described … by C. Johnson,’ 8vo, London, 1857–61.
 * 5) ‘Wild Flowers worth Notice,’ by Mrs. Lankester, 8vo, London, 1861; another edit. 1871.
 * 6) ‘British Wild Flowers … Described … by C. P. Johnson,’ 8vo, London, 1858–60; another edit. in 1863.
 * 7) ‘The Useful Plants of Great Britain … Described … by C. P. Johnson,’ 8vo, London, 1861 [–62].
 * 8) ‘English Botany,’ 3rd edit. and supplement, 8vo, London, 1863–1886.
 * 9) ‘Rust, Smut, Miidew, and Mould … by M. C. Cooke,’ 8vo, London, 1865; another edit. 1878.



SOYER, ALEXIS BENOÎT (1809–1858), cook, youngest son of a small shopkeeper, was born at Meaux-en-Brie on the Marne, France, in October 1809. At the age of nine he became a chorister in the cathedral church of Meaux. From 1821 till 1826 he served as apprentice to a cook at Grignon, near Versailles. In the latter year he was engaged by the well-known restaurateur, M. Douix of the Boulevard des Italiens, where he remained above three years. He was soon chief cook, with twelve men under his charge. In June 1830 he was second cook to Prince Polignac at the foreign office, but the revolution in July caused him to leave France, and in 1831 he joined a brother in the kitchen of the Duke of Cambridge in London. Subsequently he was a cook to the Duke of Sutherland, to the Marquis of Waterford, to William Lloyd of Aston Hall, Oswestry, and to the Marquis of Ailsa at Isleworth. In 1837 he was appointed chef to the Reform Club, London, then temporarily established at 104 Pall Mall. On the day of her majesty's coronation, 28 June 1838, he prepared a breakfast for two thousand guests at Gwydyr House, whither the club had removed during the erection of the present clubhouse (1838–41). One of Soyer's best remembered dinners there was that given to Ibrahim Pasha on 3 July 1846, when covers were laid for 150 persons (cf. and, London Past and Present, iii. 158).

In February 1847 Soyer turned his attention to the famine in Ireland, on which he wrote various letters to the public press. In April he received an appointment from the government to proceed to Ireland, where, on the Royal Barracks Esplanade, Dublin, he erected and conducted with the greatest economy kitchens, from which he issued rations of soup and meat at half the usual expense. He was for his services entertained at a dinner at the Freemasons' Hall, College Green, and at another banquet at the London Tavern on his return to England. While in Ireland he published a sixpenny book, ‘Soyer's Charitable Cookery, or The Poor Man's Regenerator,’ part of the proceeds of which he gave away in charity.

In 1849 he brought out Soyer's magic stove, a small kitchener, with which food could be cooked on the table. At his office,