I was lucky to be able to watch live the final episode of the current BBC series of WDYTYA featuring BBC News presenter Sophie Raworth. In the final minutes she found several relatives in a book originally published as Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists in 1898. As explained in the episode the senior botanist/gardiner was a respected member of staff of a stately home on a par with the butler. The garden was a hallmark of status.
There's a more recent version of that book available in limited view on Google books. The original publication digitized is at https://archive.org/stream/cu31924014492015#page/n23/mode/2up and elsewhere.
Don't expect to find ordinary gardeners. Charles Darwin and Edmund Halley (Halley's Comet) are included.
09 March 2017
Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists
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2 comments:
Wonderful.
Whilst not finding mention of our own gardener, I found mention of someone connected to some research I have done on workhouse records which confirms my research. Brillaint, thankyou for sharing.
I got excited reading about it, because a 1st cousin 3x removed WAS a gardener on a big estate in Swansea, Wales and also developed a new Dahlia in the 1920s (the Daniel Bliss). Unfortunately the book is too early for him, but what a treasure for some folks.
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