Lyell, Katharine Murray, 1817-1915

Katharine Murray Lyell was one of six daughters of the Scottish merchant and geologist Leonard Horner. She married Henry Lyell, brother of geologist Charles Lyell. Their oldest son, Leonard, became a member of Parliament.

As a botanist, Katharine specialized in ferns and in 1870 published a volume on the geographic distribution of ferns worldwide. She traveled to India with Henry, where she collected plants in several regions. Her fern collection is shared between Kew Gardens and The University of Reading Herbarium (RNG), while her other plants went to the British Museum.

Lyell undertook the editorship of volumes of correspondence and memoirs of three of her era's outstanding scientists. When her brother-in-law Charles died in 1875, she became the compiler and editor of a two-volume edition of his life, letters, and journals. A decade later, following her father's death, she edited two volumes of his letters. She also edited the life and letters of another of her brothers-in-law, Charles Bunbury, a noted paleobotanist.