History Collection (page 3)

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

Portrait of Charles Darwin, 1868, by Julia Margaret Cameron. The photograph is signed by Darwin with the inscription " I like this photograph very much better than any other which has been

Miss Cotton posing on the leaf of giant waterlily Kew Gardens, 1923
" Miss Cotton" posing on the leaf of giant waterlily Victoria amazonica, Kew Gardens, Richmond, Surrey, 1923. It is likely that she was the daughter of Arthur Cotton

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

Kaspar Maria von Sternberg, 1832
Lithograph of Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (1761-1838) who was one of the first paleobotanists and one of the founders of the National Museum in Prague, where his collection now resides

Dukes Garden

Grade II listed Victoria Gate

John Wilfred Sutch, born 8 November 1923, worked as a gardener in the T-Range, Palm House and Arboretum. At the age of 18 he left Kew to join the army

Observation post, RBG Kew, 1939
Observation Post in Cambridge Cottage Garden, RBG Kew, autumn 1939. Observation posts, where soldiers were placed to monitor possible enemy movement, were assembled throughout the country

Sandbags outside the Herbarium, Kew, 1939
Sandbags protect some of the lower windows and doors at the Herbarium and telephone room, RBG Kew, 1939, during World War II

H. W. Sayer
H.W. Sayer Sub-Foreman of the Temperate House pits, RBG Kew, May 1924. this was where plants destined for the Temperate House were propagated

C. F. Coates, Aboretum propagator, 1943
C.F. Coates, Arboretum propagator seen here taking a bud from a cutting for grafting onto new stock in 1943

William Turrill botanising aquatic plants with his vasculum slung over his shoulder. WIlliam Turrill was Keeper of the Herbarium and Library at Kew from 1946-57

Kewites and wives Kampala, Uganda, 1923
This group photograph of " Kewites and wives" was taken in Kampala, Uganda, in 1923. Second from the right: John Davenport Snowden, with his wife, centre

Ringing the work bell, India circa 1910
Bell tolled to summon staff to work, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Kolkata, India, circa 1910. The bell is being rung by a Nepali durwan (doorman)

House of Walter Haydon, curator of the botanic station at Kotu in Gambia
House of Walter Haydon, appointed curator of the botanic station at Kotu in Gambia in 1894. The house was built for him on site so that he could always command a view of all the ground under

Preparing cinnamon, Sri Lanka, 1880 s. The cinnamon is contained in the inner bark of the tree. Once the shoots have been harvested the outer bark is peeled off by rubbing with a brass rod or blunt

Drying or withering tea leaves
Drying out the tea leaves, known as withering. Approx. 80% of moisture needs to be removed from freshly picked leaves to preserve them and enhance the teas flavour

Packing tea in India for export to the west

Bringing in the plucked tea leaves in India. Workers with baskets of tea leaves ready to be processed for export

Tea plantation, Far East
Terraces of a tea plantation in the Far East, showing Camellia sinensis var sinensis, used to produce Chinese and green tea. Women harvest the tea leaves, a process known as " plucking"

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