Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (28 July 1843 – 23 December 1928) was a leading British

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, and the third director of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

Life and career

Thiselton-Dyer was born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, London. He was a son of William George Thiselton-Dyer (1812-1868), physician and Catherine Jane, née Firminger (1815-1897), botanist. He was educated at

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London an ...

where he was first mathematical scholar, and later proceeded to the medical department of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, where he remained until 1863 when he proceeded to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. Initially studying

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, he graduated in

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

in 1867. He became Professor of Natural History at the

Royal Agricultural College ;(from Virgil's Georgics)"Caring for the Fieldsand the Beasts" , established = 2013 - University status – College , type = Public , president = King Charles , vice_chancellor = Peter McCaffery , students ...

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

and then Professor of Botany at the

Royal College of Science for Ireland The Royal College of Science for Ireland (RCScI) was an institute for higher education in Dublin which existed from 1867 to 1926, specialising in physical sciences and applied science. It was originally based on St. Stephen's Green, moving in 1 ...

in Dublin. In 1872, he became professor at 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 ...

in London, being recommended by

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of t ...

. Then in 1875, Thiselton-Dyer was appointed Assistant Director at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, under Hooker, where he was to stay for thirty years. Thiselton-Dyer spent considerable time working for the benefit of the British colonies. He introduced rubber plantations to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and Malaya, and introduced cacao from

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

to plantations in Sri Lanka. In 1877, he was given charge of an international research laboratory, established at Kew with private funding, which became known as one of the best laboratories in Europe. Thiselton-Dyer also designed a new rock garden, after a bequest to Kew in 1881 of a large collection of Alpine plants. Thiselton-Dyer was elected FRS in 1880. His proposers included

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

and

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

, but not Joseph Dalton Hooker, whose daughter Dyer had already married. From 1885 to 1905, after the retirement of Hooker, he was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. As Director, in 1896 Dyer appointed the first women gardeners at Kew,

Annie Gulvin Annie M Gulvin (18 June 1876 - 1972) was one of the first two women gardeners at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Early life and education Annie Gulvin was born Mary Ann Gulvin in 1876, the daughter of Charles Gulvin, a police constable, and M ...

and Alice Hutchins. Thiselton-Dyer was a fellow of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

from 1887 to 1890, Royal Commissioner to the Paris International Exhibition (1900) and to the St. Louis Exposition (1904), botanical adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1902–1906), and became a member of the court of the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

in 1909. His principal works are an English edition of

Sachs Sachs is a German surname, meaning "man from Saxony". Sachs is a common surname among Ashkenazi Jews from Saxony, in the United States sometimes adopted in the variant Zaks, supposedly in reference to the Hebrew phrase ''Zera Kodesh Shemo'' (ZaKS), ...

''Text-Book of Botany'' (1875), editions of the ''Flora Capensis'' and of the ''Flora of Tropical Africa'', and ''

Index Kewensis The 1893 ''Index Kewensis'' (IK), maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a publication that aims to register all botanical names for seed plants at the rank of species and genera. It later came to include names of taxonomic families and ...

'' (1905). With his former school-friend

Henry Trimen Henry Trimen (26 October 1843 – 16 October 1896) was a British botanist who worked in Sri Lanka. He named several plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. Life Trimen was born in Park Place, Paddington, London, England, the son of Richard and ...

he published ''The Flora of Middlesex'' (1869). He married the botanical illustrator Harriet Anne Hooker, daughter of Joseph Dalton Hooker, in 1877; they had one son and one daughter. Harriet Anne Dyer (née Hooker) lived at Kew from birth until old age, surviving her husband and dying in 1946 aged 91, in her house near

Bere Alston Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers. History and geography With a population of about 2,000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the river ...

. Thiselton-Dyer was appointed in 1899, and awarded the

Clarke Medal The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, the oldest learned society in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the Natural sciences. The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Branw ...

by the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...

in 1892. He died at The Ferns (now Crickley Court), Witcombe, a village near Gloucester, and is buried in the churchyard of St Peter's, Bentham.

References

William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (1843–1928)
at Royal Botanic gardens, Kew

External links

* * * *Correspondence to William Thiselton-Dyer as Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is being made available online through th

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiselton Dyer, William Turner English botanists English horticulturists 1843 births 1928 deaths Botanists active in Kew Gardens Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of the Royal Agricultural University Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Alumni of King's College London Fellows of King's College London People educated at King's College School, London Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire People from Westminster 19th-century British botanists 20th-century British botanists