Complex sentence: Horsefield had little formal schooling, and acquired most of his botanical knowledge through self-study and involvement in various local botanical groups, which provided a venue for working class people to share knowledge, in part through the pooling of money to collectively purchase books.
Split into simpler sentences: Horsefield had little formal schooling, and acquired most of his botanical knowledge through self-study and involvement in various local botanical groups. These societies provided a venue for working class people to share knowledge, in part through the pooling of money to collectively purchase books.