Royal Botanic Gardens Collection

Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst, RBG Kew
The frozen vaults of the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst, RBG Kew

Henry Ridley
When Henry Ridley took over directorship of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, (1888-1911)there were many overgrown jungle areas and he was tasked with making a preliminary forest survey

Millennium Seed Bank, (MSB)
Entrance to the Seed Bank Vault, Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst site, RBG Kew

Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst, RBG Kew
Staff wearing protective clothing in the frozen vaults of the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst, RBG Kew

The Treetop Walkway, RBG Kew
The Treetop Walkway in the Arboretum, RBG Kew

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

Portrait of Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865)
Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865). Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1841-1865. Photographic print on paper

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

Garden visitors inspect the Demonstration Plot at RBG Kew, during WWII
Garden visitors inspect the vegetables in the Demonstration Plot, Kew Gardens, during World War II. Visitor numbers increased between 1941

Vegetables growing in the Demonstration Plot, RBG Kew, WWII
Vegetables growing in the Demonstration Plot, RBG Kew, during World War II. The Model Allotment Plan initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture was designed to provide a household of five people with a

RBG Kew expedition to Cameroon, 1995. Between 1995-2003, several RBG Kew-National Herbarium of Cameroon (HNC) teams combed the forest, supported by local conservation NGOs and Earthwatch volunteers

Seasons - Spring Palm House, 2017
View of the Cherry Walk, leading to the Palm House at RBG Kew on a spring day, 2017

Sir Peter Crane of RBG Kew on an expedition to Borneo, seen here climbing into the tree canopy of the Sabah rainforest, 2005

The Broadwalk, RBG Kew
Visitors enjoy the hot colours in the summer Broadwalk bedding displays, RBG Kew

Aquatic Garden with waterlilies in flower, RBG Kew

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

World War II, Kew Gardens: Talk at the Demonstration plot about growing your own food
Sydney Albert Pearce, Assistant Curator of the Decorative Department, gives a talk at the Demonstration Plot in front of Kew Palace, 1940

Joseph Reardon pictured during service in WWI
Joseph Reardon joined the staff as a gardener in July 1914, having trained at Tully Nurseries, Kildare. He attended Kews " Mutual improvement Society" scoring the highest numbers in

Ernest Henry Wilson (back row, second from right) with colleagues while working as a gardener at Kew, circa 1897. Two years later, in 1899, he would begin work as a plant collector

Joseph Rock (1884-1962), a Viennese-born naturalist, author and linguist. From 1922 to 1949 he travelled through south-west China studying the flora, peoples, culture and languages of the region

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

Princess of Wales conservatory, RBG Kew

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

William Turrill in gas protection suit, spring 1940
Here, WIlliam Turrill models the full gas protection suit usually worn by Air Raid Wardens. In the spring of 1940 a Kew Gardens Platoon was formed

Vegetables cultivated on Kew Green, 1917
Vegetables cultivated in allotments on Kew Green to combat food shortages, 1917, during World War I

Henry Ridley and houseboat, Kuala Tembeling, Malaysia, 1911
Henry Ridley standing by a houseboat at Kuala Tembeling in Malaysia, 1911. He travelled extensively in the Malay peninsula while director of the Singapore Botanic gardens

John Davenport Snowden and wife, Uganda 1916
John Davenport Snowden, botanical explorer and plant collector, with his wife, standing outside their tent at a camp near Kampala, Uganda, in 1916

Pioneers Cabin at the base of a Sequoiadendron giganteum
" Pioneers Cabin" at the base of a Sequoiadendron giganteum, California, USA. Joseph Hooker purchased this photograph, probably during his expedition to the United States (circa 1877)

Arthur Hill, Director of Kew 1922-41. A keen horseman, Arthur Hill used to take a ride every morning but unfortunately met his death in 1941 when he fell from a horse on the Mid Surrey Golf Course

Alexander Wollaston, doctor, explorer and naturalist. photograph from an album illustrating the zoological and botanical expedition Wollaston led to the Snow Mountains of Dutch New Guinea 1912-1913

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

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

Kew Plant Collector
RBG Kew botanist collecting seeds on an expedition to Tasmania, Australia, 2005

Seed Collection in the Namibian Desert
Sesriem to Sossusvlei, RBG Kew botanists seed collecting expedition to Namibia, 2007

Studying Kniphofia (red hot pokers) on an RBG Kew expedition to Malawi
A botanist from RBG Kew studies a Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker flower) in the field, Malawi, southeastern Africa, 2007

RBG Kew expedition to Malawi
RBG Kew botanist begins the day on expedition to Mozambique, 2007

Baobab (Adansonia) and Sisal (Agave sisalana) near Berenty nature reserve, Madagascar

Plant Pressing in Camp, Brunei
A botanist from RBG Kew pressing plants collected on an RBG Kew expedition to Brunei, 1990

Flooding, Papua Province 1998
Flooding, Papua Province (formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia, 1998

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

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

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