Thomas Laflin 1914-1972

Thomas Laflin was born at Mistley in Essex in December 1914 and brought up at Bentley in Suffolk. During the second world war, he was employed by the "WarAg" in "Bucks, Berks & Oxon". Later he moved to the North Riding of Yorkshire and later still to Shropshire.

From 1947 to 1949 he lived in Bedfordshire. He had long been interested in bryology and by now had developed a considerable expertise in this area. He worked with Dr Dony on the section on Mosses in his Flora of Bedfordshire.

From 1950 to 1956 he lived in Kent and was a founder member of the Kent Field Club. During that time, he wrote an account of "Kent Mosses" which is currently being scanned and made available here.

In 1956 he moved to Warwickshire and lived there until his death in 1971. He took an active part in "A Computer-mapped Flora: a study of the county of Warwickshire" by Dorothy A. Cadbury, J.G. Hawkes and R.C. Readett, published in 1971. This included a section on bryophytes by T.Laflin. After his death, the collection of specimens and illustrations produced for this flora was deposited in the School of Botany at the University of Birmingham for use by other bryologists in the future.

After his death, his collection of specimens and illustrations (except for those relating to Warwickshire) were deposited in the School of Botany at Cambridge University, where they are available for reference by other bryologists. I have now discovered an additional collection of his records relating to mosses and will make suitable provison for them.

Page maintained by Susan Laflin in memory of her father Thomas Laflin
Last updated January 2005.