British botanist (1848-1914).
William West, FLS (22 February 1848 – 14 May 1914) was an English pharmacist, botanist, microscopist and writer, particularly noted for his studies of freshwater algae. His sons, both botanists, were William West Jr with whom he did fieldwork, and George Stephen West with whom West co-wrote botanical publications for more than 20 years. West was born in Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was the son of a cloth-dresser and a dressmaker, and his training as a pharmacist was probably via an apprenticeship in a chemist shop, which would have involved the study of plants. For most of his lif