History Collection (page 4)

St Helena, Archway, 1805, William J Burchell
Archway - 01/10/1805 Watercolour St.Helena [drawings] Taken from an album of drawings made between 1805-1820 Burchell, William J. (William John) (1781-1863)

The Square, with the Market and Church, Jamestown, 1810
The Square, with the Market and Church, Jamestown. 14.04.1810 (1810/1819) Pencil on paper St.Helena [drawings] Taken from an album of drawings made between 1805-1820 Burchell, William J

Richard Spruce (1817-1893) botanist and plant collector who was commissioned by William Hooker to transfer the cinchona (quinine) industry from South America to India

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kew Guild dinner at the Holborn Restaurant, London, 1905. The Guild was established in 1893 to bring together past and present members of staff

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

Charles Metcalf became Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory in 1930. Here, he is identifying a timber specimen

Dr R. Melville, scientist at Kew, 1940 s
Dr R. Melville, scientist at Kew, working under Dr Hutchinson, Keeper of Museums, during the 1940 s, is seen here scraping pollen onto glass from a South African marigold

Jodrell Laboratory staff, 1963, with Charles Metcalf (Keeper of the Jodrell laboratory) centre

Walter Fitch, Llewllyn House, Kew. Presented by his widow in 1904. Walter Fitch (1817-1892) was appointed as a botanical artist for Curtis Botanical magazine by William Hooker

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

John Hutchinson, Keeper of Museums at Kew from 1936 to 1948. He curated Economic Botany collections and advised british ministries and colonial governments

William Thiselton Dyer
On becoming Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, William Thiselton-Dyer appointed himself Inspector of the Kew Constabulary, a title that is still held by serving directors

William Thiselton Dyer, Director of Kew for thirty years from 1875

Sir William Thiselton Dyer in court dress with his Order of St Michael and St George, on being knighted in 1899

William Thiselton Dyer, Director of Kew Gardens
William Thiselton Dyer (1843-1928), Director of Kew Gardens 1885 to 1905 after the retirement of Joseph Hooker

The Kew Fire Brigade was operated on a voluntary basis by staff from the Gardens with, from 1882, a station in the Melon Yard on the Kew Road near the southern tip of Kew Green

The Royal Botanic Gardens Constabulary, ca 1910-1915
Photograph of William Thiselton Dyer and Royal Botanic Gardens Constabulary, ca 1910-1915. William Thiselton Dyer is the white-haired officer carrying the cane in the centre

The first four Keepers of the Herbarium, Kew Gardens
The first four Keepers of the Herbarium, left to right: Professor Daniel Oliver (Keeper 1864-90), W. Botting Hemsley (1899-1908), Dr Otto Stapf (1908-22) and J. G

George Appleby joined Kew as a pony-boy (a stable hand), at the age of 14 in April 1931, earning 18 shillings a week. After three years he was promoted to the post of junior Carter

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

The arrival of the flagstaff off the Sion Vista, Kew, circa 1916
The arrival of the flagstaff off the Sion Vista, Kew: " accepting delivery", circa 1916. Gifted by the Provincial Governement of British Columbia, it was towed along the Thames by tug boat

Felled tree for Kew Flagstaff, British Columbia, 1914
British COlumbia 1914: The felled tree which was to form the great flagstaff at RBG Kew from 1919 to 1959. Made from a Douglas fir

The Great Flagstaff, RBG Kew, ca. 1900-1905
Photograph of The Great Flagstaff at RBG Kew, flying the Union Flag, ca. 1900-1905. It stood until August 2007

Kew Flag pole en route from Vancouver, 1915
The great Kew flagstaff is seen here en route from Vancouver aboard the SS Merionethshire, arriving at Tilbury Docks on 29 December 1915

The Birdman, Mr Allaway, 1901
The Birdman, Mr Allaway feeding penguin outside Museum No. 1 - 1901. In 1899 three penguins were presented to Kew by Albert Linney

Joey the Stanley Crane, Kew Gardens
Joey the Stanley Crane was a well-known Kew personality. In 1935 The Journal of the Kew Guild described his eventful life, which included losing a toe to a lawn mower

Aircraft emergency landing, Kew, 1938
On 5th January 1938 an aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing near the Palm House, Kew. It had been pulling an advertising banner

Aircraft crash, Kew, 1928
On the 16th August, 1928, a single seater Siskin aircraft came down in flames to the west of the Syon Vista, Kew Gardens, during an aerial display

Stereograph, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
This stereograph of the interior of one of the T-Range glasshouses shoes a sign requesting visitors to keep to the right and to refrain from touching the plants

Kew Green, Richmond, at the end of the August Bank Holiday, 1926
Kew Green, Richmond, at the end of the August Bank Holiday celebrations, 1926. William Dallimore, Keeper of the Museums of Economic Botany, Kew Gardens, described a Bank Holiday in the 1890 s

The Kew Gardens Question. This political cartoon was published in 1878 as part of the ongoing debate as to whether the public should be allowed into the gardens in the mornings, before 1pm

Kew Pagoda from the Refreshment Pavillion

Burnt remains of the Refreshment Pavilion, Kew Gardens, 1913
In 1913 the tea pavilion at Kew Gardens was burnt down by members of the womens suffrage movement as part of their campaign

Japanese Gateway, Kew Gardens c. 1910
Model of the Chokushi-Mon (Gateway of the Imperial Messenger), better known as the Japanese Gateway, gifted to Kew after its inclusion in the Japan-British exhibition held at Shepherds Bush in 1910

Amorphophallus titanum flowering, 1901
The Titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum is known as the corpse flower in its native Indonesia because of the rancid smell, described by Curtiss Botanical magazine as a mixture of rotten fish

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

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