James Petiver was a botanist and entomologist who worked in England. He joined the Royal Society in 1695. He travelled little, getting his specimens locally or from contacts. He travelled to Leiden on behalf of Sloane to the auction of Paul Hermann’s collection in 1711. Like Sloane, he was a collector and had a collection of several thousand plants. All of these were purchased by Sloane, along with his books and manuscripts, after his death. Nowadays these all reside in the British Museum alongside Sloane’s collection.
Reference:
D. E. Allen, ‘Petiver, James (c.1665–1718)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22041, accessed 8 June 2011].
“Fellow Details.” The Royal Society. [https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27Petiver%27%29, accessed August 17, 2017.]
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane: Virtual International Authority File: