Henry Fletcher Hance

Henry Fletcher Hance (4 Aug 1827 – 22 June 1886) was a British diplomat who devoted his spare time to the study of Chinese plants.

Born in London, his first appointment was to Hong Kong in 1844. He later became vice-consul to Whampoa, consul to Canton, and finally consul to Xiamen, where he died in 1886. In 1873, Hance published a supplement to George Bentham's 1861 Flora Hongkongensis.[1]

He found, named and described (in Latin) Iris speculatrix in 1875. He was the taxonomic author of many plants. In 1857 Berthold Carl Seemann named the genus Hancea (family Euphorbiaceae) in his honor.

Hance is buried with his wife Charlotte in Hong Kong Cemetery.