Extracts from a letter dated 30th of April 1968 from Mr I. M. Evans Keeper of Biology at Leicester MuseumI am most grateful to you for allowing us to borrow the Livens collection of wild flowers. We have listed all the plants for which definite locations are given and the list makes fascinating reading, since many of them, for example, hard fern, marsh pennywort, cross leaved heath and heather from Beacon Hill are no longer to be found where Mrs Livens collected them in 1857. The collection in fact is one of the earliest surviving containing Leicestershire plants and if you are at any time thinking of disposing of it we would be pleased to make you an offer. Out of interest we have attempted to track down the Livens family and find that a Frederick Livens aged 33 a commercial traveler in the sugar trade and his wife Mary aged 41 were living in 1861 at 40 London Road Leicester with their three children Frederick Howard aged 7, Mary Elisabeth aged 3 and Cary Morris aged 1. There is a Frederick Livens recorded as late as 1896 at 12 Salisbury Road Leicester but after that date the surname disappears from this area as far as I can ascertain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Livens FamilyFrederick
Livens 1827-1898 and his wife Mary 1821-1891. nee
Goodman ChildrenFrederick Howard-Born
1854. Mary Elizabeth-Born 1858. Cary Morris-Born 1860. Emma
Meta-Born 1862. |