Martin J. Wigginton M.Sc. (1944–2019)

Martin James Wigginton was born on the 2nd September 1944 in Luton and died on the 22nd August 2019. His primary school education was at Denbigh Road primary school. His father, who worked for Laporte Titanium, was asked to move to a new factory in Grimsby, so as a young teenager, Martin moved to Wintringham Grammar School in Grimsby for his secondary education. Here, he took an early interest in geology, cycling to a nearby Lincolnshire quarry to collect fossils.

Martin then went to the University of Hull, where he gained a BSc in Botany, followed closely by an MSc at Bangor. Soon afterwards, he started a job as a plant physiologist with the Agricultural and Food Research Institute in Norwich, where he stayed from 1969 to 1975. However, his true vocation as a field botanist was satisfied by taking a job with the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) at their Newcastle office in 1976, with a move soon afterwards to the National Vegetation Classification project, based at the University of Lancaster, where he stayed until 1979 and was an important contributor to the publications on British Plant Communities (Rodwell 1991–2001). Of his time with the NVC team, John Rodwell writes,

Professionally Martin was an enormous asset to the National Vegetation Classification survey team, taking brisk charge of the coverage of north-west England and north Wales, working very energetically to our team’s briefs and turning in data of a very high order of accuracy and comprehensiveness. The team also learned much from his particular expertise in critical taxa and bryophytes. As with the other team members, the NVC stands as a continuing testimony to the commitment Martin showed.

The rest of his career continued in the statutory conservation agencies, spending time as a botanist in the NCC England Field Unit based in Banbury and Peterborough, then with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in Edinburgh, English Nature (EN) in Grantham, and finally the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in Peterborough, where he stayed until early retirement in 1997. Ron Porley, who worked under Martin in the England Field Unit at one time, recalls that his field knowledge was very impressive. His final work for the agencies was to compile and edit the third edition of the British vascular plant Red Data Book.

However, and perhaps most importantly, certainly for readers of this journal, Martin developed an interest in bryophytes quite early in his career (ca. 1968), which continued until his death, as a continuous thread and in fact Martin’s chief passion. He became a member of the British Bryological Society (BBS) in 1978 and although not a great ‘joiner’ or attender of BBS events, he did organise a couple of field meetings in north-west England, did much valuable recording, and contributed frequently to the new vice-county record reports in Field Bryology and the New National and Regional bryophyte records column in the Journal of Bryology. One of his most important domestic bryological works was Mosses and liverworts of North Lancashire, published by the University of Lancaster in 1995, a wonderfully detailed publication that set the bar high for other writers of local floras. He also contributed text for the two published bryophyte atlases (Hill et al. 1991–1994; Blockeel et al. 2014).

In 1991, Martin took part in the first BBS Tropical Bryology Group expedition to Mulanje Mountain in Malawi, (Figure 1) a watershed moment for several of us. A few years later he and I applied for, and somewhat to our surprise received, Darwin Initiative funding for a three year bryophyte project in Uganda, concentrating on areas of upland forest in the west of the country (Figure 2). He was a member of the first two expeditions, and was usually the most knowledgeable member of the team in the field. Martin had quite a dry sense of humour, and could be a bit eccentric, in the best ‘English’ sense of the word. One African adventure had him pursuing a hippo alone at night by torchlight, a pretty dangerous thing to do, and he also persuaded the boat-man on the River Shire to get closer to the hippos than was probably advisable. On another occasion, we were driving out of town with a precariously loaded Landrover, when we were flagged down by the police; they fined us not for overloading, but because Martin, in the front passenger seat, had an old-fashioned aversion to wearing a seat-belt!

Figure 1. Martin in action, collecting a specimen during the Malawi expedition, Chisongoli, Mt Mulanje, 17 June 1991. Photograph by Ron Porley.

Figure 2. Martin, with the late Brian O’Shea, relaxing at the Mountains of the Moon Hotel, Fort Portal, Uganda, 29 January 1997. Photograph by Ron Porley.

After these memorable trips, Martin put much of his energy into the study of African bryophytes, setting up, along with Brian O’Shea, the occasional self-published series Tropical Bryology Research Reports, with Brian concentrating on mosses and Martin on liverworts. On behalf of the BBS, he took on the role of editing the late Eustace Jones’s manuscript Liverwort and hornwort Flora of West Africa, resulting in its publication in 2004, a really important and useful book for all students of African bryology. His invaluable Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of sub-Saharan Africa, following on from an earlier checklist that he published with Riclef Grolle (Wigginton and Grolle 1996) ran to four editions, the final one coming out in 2018. Indeed, Martin became one of the leading experts on the liverworts of tropical Africa, identifying many of the specimens from the BBS collections, and authoring or co-authoring a number of taxonomic and floristic papers (Appendix). Well into his retirement (2005), Martin spent a couple of months doing an intensive bryophyte survey on the remote Atlantic island of St Helena, which several years later resulted in a very nice little book, The Mosses and liverworts of St Helena. He was also a co-author of the World Checklist of hornworts and liverworts. Much of his extensive collections of overseas bryophytes have been deposited in the herbarium in Edinburgh (E).

Martin was a quiet, modest and self-effacing man, but once one got to know him he was unfailingly helpful, polite and friendly. He was very well-travelled, but never boasted about it, going to exotic locations all over the world to visit nature reserves, sleep under the stars and do some bird-watching. In fact he was quite an expert ornithologist, taking part in regular organised bird counts. He was meticulous in everything he did, from liverwort studies to planning DIY projects. He liked simplicity and abhorred fuss. He always wore a tie in the office, and did not ‘dress down’ much in the field. He enjoyed growing plants in his garden to encourage birds and butterflies, and liked to be self-sufficient in producing fruit and vegetables. He walked the complete coast of England in sections over 4 years. He was a fan of test cricket, and I often imagined him after his retirement working in his garden in Warmington near Peterborough listening to Test Match Special on the radio: probably entirely fanciful on my part, but an image that seemed to sum him up well.

When I heard about his death from Motor Neurone Disease, I had not even been aware that he was unwell, as we had been carrying on e-mail correspondence on African hepatics regardless. Indeed, I received a package of material that he must have put in the post literally the day before he died, so the news of his death was quite a shock. Only later did I learn, from his sister Mary that he had walked ‘coast to coast’ while coping with disabilities brought on by MND. Mary writes that he was courageous, cheerful, positive and independent right up to the point he was admitted to hospital that day before he died. Although unmarried and without children himself, Martin enjoyed enthusing and encouraging his nieces to travel and explore the natural world. This, as well as his many contributions to botany and bryology, will be his lasting legacy.

I am indebted to Mary Fleming, Ron Porley and John Rodwell for their contributions.

Appendix. Publications by Martin Wigginton

Abalo-Loko G, Guelly A, Wigginton M, Reeb C. 2019. Checklist of liverworts and hornworts of Togo. Cryptogamie, Bryologie. 40:233–245.

Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Wigginton MJ. 2012. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 5. Fissidens Lindb. (Fissidentaceae), including a description of F. translucens sp. nov., and Fissidens curvatus Hornsch. subsp. sanctae-helenae subsp. nov. Journal of Bryology. 34:212–230.

Burton WG, Wigginton MJ. 1970. The effect of a film of water upon the oxygen status of a potato tuber. Potato Research. 13:180–186.

Hodgetts N, Palmer M, Wigginton M. 1996. The Pink Book of Plants: lists of vascular and nonvascular plant species which are nationally threatened, localised or protected in Great Britain. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservancy Council.

Ignatov MS, Wigginton MJ, Kuznetzova OI, Huttunen S. 2008. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 3. Sainthelenia, a new genus of Brachytheciaceae (Bryophyta). Arctoa. 17: 91–100.

Jones EW, Wigginton MJ, Van de Kerckhove O, Duckett JG. 2004. EW Jones’s liverwort and hornwort flora of West Africa. In: Wigginton MJ, editor. Scripta Botanica Belgica, vol. 30. Meise: National Botanic Garden of Belgium.

Kürschner H, Wigginton MJ. 2015. Barbula indica (Hook.) Spreng. p. 69; Didymodon tophaceus (Brid.) Lisa p. 72; Microbryum davallianum (Sm.) R.H.Zander [Pottia davallianum (Sm.) C.E.O.Jensen] p. 75. In: Ellis LT, Aleffi M, Bakalin VA, Bednarek-Ochyra H, Bergamini A, Beveridge P, Choi SS, Fedosov VE, Gabriel R, Gallego MT, et al. New national and regional bryophyte records, 42. Journal of Bryology. 37:68–85.

Müller F, Wigginton MJ, O'Shea BJ. 2000. New bryophyte taxon records for tropical countries IV. Tropical Bryology. 18:199–202.

Ochyra R, Wigginton M. 2017. Pseudotaxiphyllum distichaceum (Mitt.) Z.Iwats. p. 294. In: Ellis LT, Alataş N, Aleffi M, Alegro A, Šegota V, Ozimec S, Vuković N, Koletić N, Prlić D, Bontek M, et al. New national and regional bryophyte records, 52. Journal of Bryology. 39:285–304.

O'Shea BJ, Wigginton MJ, Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Hodgetts NG, Porley RD. 2001. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje mountain, Malawi. 13. New and other unpublished records. Tropical Bryology. 20: 1–26.

O'Shea BJ, Wigginton MJ, Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Hedenäs L, Matcham HW, Frahm J-P, Porley RD, Ellis LT, Watling MC, Bates JE, Váňa J. 2003. Bryophytes of Uganda, 6. New and additional records, 3. Tropical Bryology. 24:161–168.

Palmer MA, Hodgetts N, Wigginton M, Ing B, Stewart NF. 1997. The application to the British flora of the World Conservation Union's revised Red List criteria and the significance of Red Lists for species conservation. Biological Conservation. 82:219–226.

Pigott CD, Ratcliffe D, Birks HJB, Proctor MCF, Shimwell DW, Huntley JP, Radford E, Wigginton MJ, Wilkins P, Malloch AJC. 1992. British Plant Communities. Vol. 3. Grasslands and Montane Communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Porley RD, O'Shea BJ, Wigginton MJ, Matcham HW, Hodgetts NG, Stevenson CR. 1999. Bryophytes of Uganda. 2. New and interesting records. Tropical Bryology. 16: 179–193.

Pursell R, Wigginton M. 2010. Fissidens of Easter Island. Tropical Bryology. 32:45–49.

Pursell RA, Wigginton MJ. 2010. Fissidens of Easter Island. Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution. 32:45–49.

Radford E, Wigginton MJ, Wilkins P. 1991. British plant communities. Vol. 2. Mires and heaths. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rodwell JS, Pigott CD, Ratcliffe DA, Malloch AJC, Birks HJB, Proctor MCF, Shimwell DW, Huntley JP, Radford E, Wigginton MJ, Wilkins P. 1995. British Plant Communities. Vol. 4. Aquatic Communities, Swamps and Tall-herb Fens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Seaward MRD, Ellis LT, Pócs T, Wigginton MJ. 2006. Bryophyte flora of the Chagos Archpelago. Journal of Bryology. 28:11–19.

Seaward MRD, Wigginton MJ, Buck. 2013. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 8. Lepidopilidium crispifolium, sp. nov. (Hookeriales, Pilotrichaceae). Journal of Bryology. 35:270–274.

Söderström L, Hagborg A, von Konrat M, Bartholomew-Began S, Bell D, Briscoe L, Brown E, Cargill DC, Costa DP, Crandall-Stotler BJ, et al. 2016. World checklist of hornworts and liverworts. PhytoKeys. 59:1–828.

Váňa J, Wigginton MJ. 2008. Taxonomic results of the BRYOTROP expedition to Zaire and Rwanda. 34. A new species of Amphicephalozia, A. africana sp. nov. Journal of Bryology. 30:55–58.

Wigginton MJ. 1973. Diffusion of oxygen through lenticels in potato tuber. Potato Research. 16:85–87.

Wigginton MJ. 1974. Effects of temperature, oxygen tension and relative humidity on the wound-healing process in the potato tuber. Potato Research. 17:200–214.

Wigginton MJ. 1980. A survey of Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire meres. (England Field Unit Report, No. 1). Peterborough: Nature Conservancy Council.

Wigginton MJ. 1982. Parapholis incurva (L.) C.E.Hubbard. Watsonia. 14:200.

Wigginton MJ. 1985. The bryophyte flora of Lancashire: additions and deletions. Naturalist. 110:77–80.

Wigginton MJ. 1989. Report on excursion, (1988 British Bryological Society, Liverpool AGM and paper reading), to Hatch Mere, Oak Mere, Flaxmere. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 53:25–26.

Wigginton MJ. 1990. Rare bryophytes in Lancashire. Part 1. Species occurrence. Nature Conservancy Council Report.

Wigginton MJ. 1991. Proceedings of the British Bryological Society. The spring field meeting, 1990, Lancashire (Morecambe). Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 57:2–5.

Wigginton MJ. 1995. Mosses and liverworts of North Lancashire: a bryophyte flora of Lancashire north of the River Ribble. Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, Lancaster University.

Wigginton MJ. 1999. Myosotis alpestris F.W. Schmidt (Boraginaceae). In: Wigginton MJ; editor. British Red Data Books, 1; p. 253. Peterbrough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Wigginton MJ, editor. 1999. British Red Data Books. 1. Vascular plants. 3rd edition. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Wigginton MJ. 2000. Caudalejeunea yangambiensis (Vanden Berghen) E.W.Jones (Lejeuneaceae) with mature perianths from Ghana. Tropical Bryology. 19:41–43.

Wigginton MJ. 2001a. A small collection of bryophytes from Ethiopia. Tropical Bryology. 20:27–29.

Wigginton MJ. 2001b. British Bryological Society expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 15. Lejeuneaceae, and the occurrence and frequency of foliicolous taxa. Tropical Bryology. 20:83–94.

Wigginton M. 2002. Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the East African islands. Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 3:1–88. rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Activities/tbg/Files/Checklist…

Wigginton MJ, editor. 2004a. E.W. Jones’s liverwort and hornwort Flora of West Africa. Scripta Botanica Belgica. 30:1–443.

Wigginton M. 2004b. Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the East African Islands. Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 5:1–102. https://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Activities/tbg/resources_lit_africa.htm

Wigginton MJ. 2006a. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 1. Three new species of Cololejeunea (Jungermanniales, Lejeuneaceae), C. dianae sp. nov., C. sanctae-helenae sp. nov. and C. grossestyla sp. nov. Journal of Bryology. 28:363–373.

Wigginton M. 2006b. Martin Wigginton [on bryocollecting trip to St. Helena and Ascension]. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter 21:5. rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/.../tbg/Newsletters/news21.pdf

Wigginton MJ. 2007. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 2. Lejeunea sanctae-helenae sp. nov. (Jungermanniales, Lejeuneaceae), an unusual species with a hooded lobule. Journal of Bryology. 29:12–17.

Wigginton MJ. 2009. Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the East African Islands. Edition 3. Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 7:1–114. rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Activities/tbg/Files/Checklist…

Wigginton MJ. 2010. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 4. Kurzia nemoides (Hook.f. et Taylor) Grolle and Lepidozia africana Steph. (Jungermanniales, Lepidoziaceae) described from the island. Journal of Bryology. 32:208–215.

Wigginton MJ. 2012a. Mosses and liverworts of St Helena. Newbury: Pisces Publications.

Wigginton MJ. 2012b. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 6. Cheilolejeunea (Spruce) Schiffn. (Jungermanniales, Lejeuneaceae), including C. microscypha (Hook.f. & Taylor) M.Wigginton, comb. nov. and C. rotalis (Hook.f. & Taylor) M.Wigginton, comb. nov. Journal of Bryology. 34:268–276.

Wigginton MJ. 2013a. Bryophytes of St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 7. Cylindrocolea (Jungermanniales, Cephaloziellaceae): C. sanctae-helenae M. Wigginton sp. nov. Polish Botanical Journal. 58: 107–115.

Wigginton M. 2013b. Marchantia pappeana Lehm. subsp. pappeana p. 298; Radula boryana (F.Weber) Mont. p. 300. In: Ellis LT, Araanda SC, Asthana AK, Bansal P, Nath V, Sahu V, Bayliss J, Asthana G, Srivastava S, Yadav S. et al. New national and regional bryophyte records, 37. Journal of Bryology. 35:290–305.

Wigginton MJ. 2018. Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the East African Islands. Edition 4. Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 9:1–138. http://rbgweb2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Activities/tbg/resources_lit_africa.htm.

Wigginton M, Banwell AD. 2001. A small collection of bryophytes from Montserrat, West Indies. Tropical Bryology. 20:51–53.

Wigginton MJ, Buck WR. 2013. Bryophytes of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. 8. Lepidopilidium crispifolium, sp. nov. (Hookeriales, Pilotrichaceae). Journal of Bryology. 35: 270–274.

Wigginton MJ, Graham, GG. 1981. Guide to the identification of some of the more difficult vascular plant species: with particular application to the Watsonian Vice-counties 66–70, Durham, Northumbria, and Cumbria: Nature Conservancy Council.

Wigginton MJ, Grolle R, (supplemented by A. Gyarmati). 1996. Catalogue of the Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of sub-Saharan Africa. Bryophytorum Bibliotheca. 50:1–267.

Wigginton M, Hodgetts NG, Longton R. 2020. British Bryological Society expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 16. New and other unpublished records, 2. Journal of Bryology. 42: in press.

Wigginton MJ, O'Shea BJ, Porley RD, Matcham HW. 2001. Bryophytes of Uganda, 4. New and additional records, 2. Tropical Bryology. 20:55–62.

Wigginton MJ, Porley RD. 2001. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 14. Allisoniaceae, Arnelliaceae, Aytoniaceae, Geocalycaceae, Gymnomitriaceae, Pallaviciniaceae (Hepaticae). Journal of Bryology. 23:133–138.

Wigginton MJ, Porley RD, Hodgetts NG. 1999. Bryophytes of Uganda. 1. BBS Tropical Bryology Group expeditions, 1996–1998. Introduction and collecting sites. Tropical Bryology. 16:165–177.

Wigginton MJ, Porley RD, Hodgetts NG. 2007. British Bryological Society expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 18. Cololejeunea lichenyae, a new species of Lejeuneaceae (Jungermanniopsida) from Malawi. Journal of Bryology. 29:7–11.