William Mathews (1828–1901) was an English mountaineer, botanist, land agent, and surveyor. He is best known as the figure who first proposed the formation of the Alpine Club of London in 1857, the world's first mountaineering organization.
Early life
Mathews was the eldest of six sons of Jeremiah Mathews, a Worcestershire land agent, and his wife Mary Guest. Two of his brothers, Charles Edward Mathews (1834–1905) and George Spencer Mathews (1836–1904), were also noted mountaineers. William was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, earning an M.A. in 1856.
Founding of the Alpine Club
Mathews corresponded with F. J. A. Hort about founding a national mountaineering club in February 1857, and later pursued the idea with E. S. Kennedy during an ascent of the Finsteraarhorn on 13 August 1857 (the fifth ascent of that peak and the first British ascent). Ad hoc meetings at Mathews's house near Birmingham were held in November of that year, and the meeting at which the Alpine Club was formally founded took place on 22 December 1857 at Ashley's Hotel in London, chaired by Kennedy. Mathews served as President of the Alpine Club from 1868 to 1870.
First ascents
Mathews is credited with several notable first ascents in the Alps, including:
- Grande Casse, with guides Michel Croz and E. Favre, on 8 August 1860
- Castor, with F. W. Jacomb and Michel Croz, on 23 August 1861
- Monte Viso, with F. W. Jacomb and Michel Croz, on 30 August 1861
- Grandes Rousses, with Thomas George Bonney, and Michel Croz with his brother Jean-Baptiste Croz, in 1863
Publications
Mathews published work on glaciology and botany, including "Mechanical properties of ice, and their relation to glacier motion" in Nature (24 March 1870), and The Flora of Algeria: considered in relation to the physical history of the Mediterranean region and supposed submergence of the Sahara (London: Edward Stanford, 1880).
In botanical contexts, the standard author abbreviation Mathews is used to indicate him as the author when citing a botanical name.
The subject is an established historical figure with reliable, documented encyclopedic sources available.
