William Edward Gumbleton (2 March 1840 – 4 April 1911) was an eminent Irish horticulturist with at least one species (''

Arctotis ''Arctotis'' is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the family Asteraceae. ''Arctotis'' is native to dry stony slopes in southern Africa. Some of the plants are alternatively placed in the genus ''Venidium''. The common name is "Africa ...

gumbletonii'') and two

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s named after him. He was the elder of the two sons of Rev. George Gumbleton, an Anglican clergyman, and Frances Anne (née Penrose). The Gumbleton family had lived in Ireland for several generations and Rev. George Gumbleton was vicar of Affane, County Cork. William Edward Gumbleton was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

8 June 1858, but seems to have left the university before graduating, as there is no record of his being awarded a degree. As a young man, he travelled in Europe with his mother and studied languages, art and music, before settling at Belgrove,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, an estate owned by his family and situated on

Great Island Great Island () is an island in Cork Harbour, at the mouth of the River Lee and close to the city of Cork, Ireland. The largest town on the island is Cobh (called Queenstown from 1849 to 1922). The island's economic and social history has hist ...

Cork Harbour Cork Harbour () is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area" (after Port Ja ...

. There, he devoted himself to horticulture, specialising in the growing of rare and newly introduced plants, particularly the species and cultivars of the

Compositae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

such as ''

Dahlia Dahlia (, ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (former name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, ...

'', ''

Gnaphalium ''Gnaphalium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly called cudweeds. They are widespread and common in temperate regions, although some are found on tropical mountains or in the subtropical regions of the world. Cudw ...

'', ''

'' and ''

Olearia ''Olearia'', most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus i ...

''. Gumbleton was highly opinionated and quite intolerant of other people and of plants which he considered 'inferior'. There are examples of cases where, during visits to other people's gardens, he destroyed inferior specimens of plants, sometimes with his umbrella. The species ''Arctotis gumbletonii'' was named after him by J.D. Hooker, "in tardy recognition of Mr. Gumbleton's services as a raiser and flowerer of many fine new plants". He also had two cultivars named after him: ''

Kniphofia ''Kniphofia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794. Species are native to Africa. Common names include tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily and poker plant. Description Herbaceou ...

'' 'W.E. Gumbleton' and '' AzaleaW.E. Gumbleton'. He built up a comprehensive collection of botanical books which he bequeathed to the

Irish National Botanic Gardens The National Botanic Gardens (Irish: ''Garraithe Náisiúnta na Lus'') is a botanical garden in Glasnevin, 5 km north-west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. The 19.5 hectares are situated between Glasnevin Cemetery and the River Tolka where ...

Glasnevin Glasnevin (, also known as ''Glas Naedhe'', meaning "stream of O'Naeidhe" after a local stream and an ancient chieftain) is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the River Tolka. While primarily residential, Glasnevin is also home t ...

References

* Joseph Foster, ''Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886'' * B.D. Morley & E.C.Nelson, ''Irish Horticulturists, II — William Edward Gumbleton (1840-1911), Connoisseur and Bibliophile'', Garden History, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Winter, 1979), pp. 53–65. *Ray Desmond, Desmond Desmond, ''Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists'', Taylor & Francis, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gumbleton, William Edward 1840 births 1911 deaths 20th-century Irish botanists 19th-century Irish botanists Irish gardeners Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford