C. A. (Charles Alexander) Johns

Born in Plymouth on 31 December 1811, he grew up in a family that valued learning and nature, and he became largely self-taught as a botanist. Financial trouble in the family delayed university plans, so he began teaching young and worked at Helston Grammar School, where one of his pupils was the future novelist Charles Kingsley.

He later studied at Trinity College, Dublin, earned his degree in 1839, and went on to build a career as both an educator and a writer. Alongside school work and later clerical duties, he published a long run of popular books on natural history and practical education, especially on botany and birds.

What makes his books memorable is their welcoming tone: they were written to help ordinary readers notice the living world around them. He died in 1874, but his nature writing remained in print for many years, a sign of how strongly his clear, enthusiastic style connected with readers.