Female Collection

Eleanor Morland, Gertude Cope and Alice Hutchings, Kew gardeners, 1898
Eleanor Morland, Gertude Cope and Alice Hutchings, Kew gardeners, pictured in 1898, at RBG Kew. By 1902 all the women gardeners had left to take up horticultural posts elsewhere

Matilda Smith, botanical artist
Matilda Smith, Joseph Hookers second cousin, began training as a botanical artist in 1877, at the age of 23, and remained in Kews employ for 45 years

Women gardeners put on their clogs ready for work, World War II
Women gardeners were employed at Kew during World War II, after an interval of nearly a quarter of a century. Fourteen women were enrolled onto the staff in 1940

Annie M Gulvin
Annie Gulvin and Alice Hutchings were the first female gardeners at Kew in 1896. Annie Gulvin (pictured here) left in 1897 to take up the post of head gardener on an estate in South Wales

Kews women gardeners, November 1916, during World War I. During the war womens roles at Kew continued to grow. Back row (l-r) K W Harper, I L Lines, H A Rowan, M I Yeo, N J Watson, E M HArper

Women gardeners, The Rock Garden, RBG Kew, World War II
Women gardeners were again employed at Kew during World War II, after an interval of nearly a quarter of a century. Fourteen women were enrolled onto the staff in 1940

Women Gardeners (drinking tea) 1939
Women Gardeners (drinking tea), RBG Kew, 1939. A tea break was only instigated at Kew after Minnie Hill made a personal appeal to the director, Sir Arthur Hill

Female gardener working in the orchid house, during World War II
Female gardener working in the orchid house, RBG Kew, during World War II

Botanist Mary Ruth Fussel Jackson Taylor, RBG Kew, 1939
Botanist Mary Ruth Fussel Jackson Taylor, working in the Herbarium, RBG Kew, 1939

Women gardeners, RBG Kew, World War II
Women gardeners were again employed at Kew during World War II, after an interval of nearly a quarter of a century. Fourteen women were enrolled onto the staff in 1940

Potato tuber slices being dried in trays of peat, WWII
Supplies of seed potatoes were insufficient to demand during WWII, so Wiliam Campbell, Curator of Kew Gardens devised a method of growing potatoes using slices from the tuber instead

The Mounting Room
Two members of staff working int the Mounting Room, Kew Gardens. Once collected specimens have been dried and pressed, they are mounted onto a herbarium sheet of archival quality paper with an

Japanese hemp production circa 1910. This image came to Kew from the Japan-British exhibition of 1910, which was held to encourage Japanese-British relations

Preparing cinnamon quills for drying, Sri lanka, 1880 s
Preparing cinnamon quills for drying, Sri Lanka, 1880 s. Once the inner bark has been cleaned, the quills are placed one inside another to form quills 1metre long, which are then dried on racks

Some of Kews female staff, 1942
Some of Kews female staff are shown here in 1942. Back row (l to r) Jessie F Pedgrift, Violet M Clark, Jean E Sharps, Freda Mundy

Female gardener, RBG Kew, World War II
Preparing terracotta pots for planting. Women gardeners were employed at Kew during World War II, after an interval of nearly a quarter of a century

Women gardeners at Kew, 1939-1945
Female gardener in springtime, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, WWII (1939-1945)

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