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Major George Sherriff (1898–1967) was a Scottish explorer and
Major George Sherriff (1898–1967) was a Scottish explorer and plant collector
Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...
.
Biography
Born inLarbert
Larbert ( gd, Lèirbert/Leth-pheairt, sco, Lairbert) is a small town in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of ...
, he was educated at Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. It w ...
and attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...
. In 1918 he took a commission in the Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...
, fighting in France. After the close of the First World War, in which he was injured, he was posted to Nowshera, then in British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, during the Waziristan campaign of 1919–1920. From 1927 to 1931 he served as the British vice-consul
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
in Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
, Chinese Turkestan
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autono ...
, under the consul general Frederick Williamson Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
* Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederic ...
.
In Kashgar he met the naturalist Frank Ludlow
Frank Ludlow OBE (10 August 1885 – 25 March 1972) was an English officer stationed in the British Mission at Lhasa and a naturalist.
Life
He was born in Chelsea, London and studied at West Somerset County School and Sidney Sussex College, Ca ...
, and between 1933 and 1938 the two made several expeditions into the Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
n regions of Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
and Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, collecting thousands of specimens, many of which were new to science. He joined the Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
on the outbreak of the Second World War, serving in Assam. In 1943 he was appointed to lead the British Mission in Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...
, taking over from Ludlow. The two men undertook further plant hunting expeditions in remote parts of Tibet, with their last expedition to Bhutan in 1949. Many of the specimens collected by Sherriff are held in the Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
, London. In 1947 he was appointed OBE, and in 1948 was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...
's Victoria Medal of Honour
The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society.
The award was established in 1897 "in per ...
. On returning to Britain in 1950, Sherriff bought the estate of Ascreavie
Ascreavie is a country house in Angus, Scotland. It is located north of Kirkton of Kingoldrum, and north-west of Kirriemuir. The farms of Over Ascreavie and Nether Ascreavie lie close by. In 1987 the gardens at Ascreavie were added on the Inv ...
in Angus, where he cultivated a collection of Himalayan plants, described as having "outstanding horticultural value". He served on Angus County Council from 1952 to 1966.
Sherriff's papers are held by the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherriff, George 1898 births 1967 deaths Scottish botanists Royal Garrison Artillery officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Plant collectors British Army personnel of World War I Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II