Reader, Edward   (fl. 1880s )

Supposedly born near Manchester, UK, in the 1820s, last heard of in SE NSW in 1880s.

Both Edward Reader and Felix Reader were plant collectors for Ferdinand von Mueller.
On 28 July 1880 the Baron referred to Edward Reader in a paper he read before the Linnaean Society of New South Wales:

Mr. Edward Reader, a resident near Mount Dromedary, became induced to gather the plants of his vicinity with a view of tracing the southern limits of the more northern Plants of New South Wales. This he did with a disinterested zeal and energetic toil, which are beyond all praise. The series of species never before found so far south, is already sufficiently advanced to offer it for publication; though during the spring months many other, particularly herbaceous plants, would likely be added, if search in his district could be continued.

Edward Reader's work did continue but the last of his specimens from southeast NSW currently in herbaria is dated October 1880, the month of some local murders. After his disappearance, letters arrived for him at Tilba Tilba Post Office, and anxious botanists sought information from the postmistress.

There is no record of Edward after this, but there is a suggestion in the paper below that proposes Edwards' involvement in a murder, and also offers the suggestion that Edward and Felix were the same person. The plot is complicated and circumstantial, and needs to be read in detail.

Source: "My Botanical friend Felix Reader" by Ann Collins & Ian St George in Supplement to eColenso August 2017, ISSN 1179-8351
http://182.50.159.24/Newsletters/Year%202017/Reader.pdf
(this includes information of "Edward Reader and Felix Reader", who also collected in the 1880s)
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Collecting localities for 'Reader, E.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 611 specimens