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{{Short description|German-born English scholar and forestry administrator}}
[[File:Sir William Schlich01.jpg|thumb|Sir William Schlich in ca 1910]]

'''Sir Wilhelm Philipp Daniel Schlich''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCIE|FRS|FLS}} (28 February 1840 in [[Flonheim]] – 28 September 1925 in [[Oxford]]), also known as '''William Schlich''', was a [[Germany|German]]-born [[forester]] who worked extensively in India for the British administration. As a professor at [[Royal Indian Engineering College|Cooper's Hill]], he influenced colonial forestry across the British colonies. His major work was a five volume ''Manual of Forestry'' (1889–96).

==Biography==
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Sir William Schlich07.jpg|thumb|Schlich, in the middle of the seated row, with students from the forestry school at Oxford, on a visit to the forests of Saxony in 1892]]
William was born to Daniel Schlich and Charlotte Frank. Both parents came from [[Hesse|Hessian]] families and Daniel was a Lutheran pastor or ''Kirchenrat''. His early education was at Flonheim and then at Langgöns and other schools in Hesse where the family moved. Schlich attended the Gymnasium in [[Darmstadt]] (1851).

In 1855, he entered the [[University of Giessen]], where he studied under [[Gustav Heyer (forester)|Gustav Heyer]] (1826-1883). Graduating in 1862, he joined the Hesse forestry service and was appointed ''Oberförster'' in Homberg in 1865. He received a doctoral degree in 1867 from Giessen. The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 forced him to move, and, on Heyer's recommendation, he entered the British Imperial [[Indian Forest Service]]. Arriving in India in February 1867, his first posting was in Burma. He was promoted and worked in [[Sindh]] and later [[Bengal]], becoming Conservator of Forests in 1871, and Inspector-General of Forests in 1883, succeeding his mentor [[Dietrich Brandis]]. He developed forest management and education programmes and spent 19 years in India, helping to establish the journal ''[[Indian Forester]]'' in 1874 (becoming its first honorary editor) and the school at [[Dehradun]] in 1877.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|author=Troup, R. S. (revised by Andrew Grout)|chapter=Schlich, Sir William Philipp Daniel (1840–1925)|title= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35970}}</ref>

In 1885 Schlich moved to England to take up the pioneering post of Professor of Forestry at the [[Royal Indian Engineering College]] at Cooper's Hill, near [[Egham]], Surrey, the first formal forestry course in England. He became a British citizen in 1886. In 1905, upon the closure of the college at Cooper's Hill, he moved to [[Oxford]], to found Oxford's forestry programme.<ref>Burley, Jeffery, et al. 2009. "A History of Forestry at Oxford", ''British Scholar'', Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 236-61; accessed 6 May 2012.</ref> He retired on 1 January 1920 and lived on at Oxford where he died on 28 September 1925 from a bronchial infection. He is buried at Wolvercote.<ref name=odnb/>

Schlich was a colleague and mentor of [[Gifford Pinchot]]. He was made a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1901, awarded the [[Order of the Indian Empire|Knight Commander of the Indian Empire]] in 1909 and was an Honorary Fellow of [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]].<ref name=odnb/>

Following Schlich’s death in 1925, a fund was raised by Oxford to establish an award in his name. After awards were given in several countries, the [[Society of American Foresters]] (SAF) permanently adopted the award to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of forestry.<ref>[https://foresthistory.org/january-29-1935-and-the-schlich-award-goes-to/ January 29, 1935: And the Schlich Award Goes to...]. [[Forest History Society]]. Retrieved on January 1, 2021.</ref> SAF presented the first Sir William Schlich Memorial Award to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1935 and the second Schlich Memorial Award to [[Gifford Pinchot]] in 1940.

==Works==
Schlich was the author of the five-volume ''Manual of Forestry'' (1889–96) published serially in three editions. The first two volumes were on [[silviculture]], the others dealing with [[forest management]], [[forest protection]], and [[forest utilisation]]. His ''Manual'' became the standard and enduring textbook for forestry students. In 1904 he published ''Forestry in the United Kingdom''.<ref name=eb>{{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Schlich, Sir William}}</ref> Other publications were ''The Outlook of the World's Timber Supply'' and ''Afforestation in Great Britain and Ireland''.<ref>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Schlich, William|year=1920}}</ref><ref name=odnb/>

==Personal life==
Schlich married Mary Margaret Smith in 1874. She was English, the daughter of the lexicographer [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Sir William Smith]]. In 1874 he changed the spelling of his name from Wilhelm to William. The marriage produced one son who died early and one daughter, Gertrude. Following the death of his first wife in 1878, he married Adèle Emilie Mathilde Marsily, member of an Antwerp family originally from Italy. They had a son and three daughters.<ref>{{cite book|author=Searle, Humphrey| title=Quadrille with a Raven|year=1985| publisher=Riverrun|isbn=9780714539607|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/searle/prologue.htm}}</ref><ref name=odnb/> He is buried in [[Wolvercote Cemetery]], Oxford. The composer [[Humphrey Searle]] was his grandson.

==See also==
* [[List of members of German student corps]]

===References===
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*[http://www.foresthistory.org/Publications/FHT/FHTSpring2000/awardsteen.pdf The First American Forestry Award - Harold K. Steen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185607/http://www.foresthistory.org/Publications/FHT/FHTSpring2000/awardsteen.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}
*[http://www.musicweb-international.com/searle/prologue.htm ''Memoirs'' by Humphrey Searle, Schlich's grandson]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=_8SoOQRU2xsC&dq=Wilhelm+Schlich&pg=PA148 Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism - Greg Barton, Gregory Allen]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlich, William}}
[[Category:1840 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:People from British India]]
[[Category:Burials at Wolvercote Cemetery]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Forestry academics]]
[[Category:Imperial Forestry Service officers]]
[[Category:British foresters]]
[[Category:German foresters]]
[[Category:Fellows of St John's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:University of Giessen alumni]]
[[Category:British Lutherans]]
[[Category:German Lutherans]]
[[Category:German emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:German fellows of the Royal Society]]

Wilhelm Schlich - Revision history

Bhushana: made new pg - done