Humphry Waldo Sibthorp (1713–1797) was a British botanist. He was a younger son of John Sibthorpe, MP for Lincoln, and Mary Browne, daughter of Humphrey Browne of Lincoln.
After the death of Johann Jacob Dillenius in 1747, Sibthorp succeeded him as the Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxford, a position he held from 1747 to 1783. He is noted for having taught the same course for 37 years. He also began the Catalogus Plantarum Horti Botanici Oxoniensis, a catalogue of the plants in the university's botanical garden.
The genus Sibthorpia, in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae), was named in his honour by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum.
Family
Sibthorp married firstly Sarah Waldo (daughter of Isaac Waldo of Streatham) and secondly Elizabeth Gibbes (daughter of John Gibbes, a merchant of London and Instow, Devon). His children included:
- Humphrey Sibthorp (1744–1815), his eldest son, who became a Tory MP for Lincoln.
- John Sibthorp (1758–1796), his youngest son, who also became a botanist and continued the Catalogus Plantarum.
- Sarah Sibthorp, who married Montague Cholmeley and was the mother of Sir Montague Cholmeley, 1st Baronet.
- Mary Elizabeth Sibthorp, who became the second wife of Sir Thomas Sewell, Master of the Rolls.
The standard author abbreviation H.Sibth. is used to indicate Humphry Sibthorp as the author when citing a botanical name.
