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W.H. Campbell was a student of Robert Graham and one of the founding members of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1836, becoming its first Secretary.
Keeper of Botany at Natural History Museum, London from 1977-1990 (retired).
After military service and study at Newcastle University, Cannon joined the Natural History Museum in 1952 as a Scientific Officer in the General Herbarium. The range of families in his section included the Umbelliferae (Parsley Family), of which he made a special study, particularly of the African species. One of his first tasks was to supervise the creation by Kim Allen of the old British Natural History Gallery. John Cannon was made Deputy Keeper under Bob Ross in 1972, and became Keeper of Botany on Bob’s retirement in1977. When he himself retired in 1990, he left the Museum and gave up botanical research. However, along with his wife Margaret, he wrote a book on Plant Dyes, published by the Museum.
President of Botanical Society of the British Isles (1983-1985)
Born 1872; died 1965. Plant collector
George Cave trained as a Kew gardener, graduating in 1895. In 1896 he became assistant at the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta and in 1900 was appointed Governor of the Cinchona Plantations, Mungpoo (Bengal). In 1904 he became curator of the Lloyd Botanic Garden, Darjeeling. He went on numerous plant collecting tours in Tibet, Nepal and Sikkim and some diaries from these tours are held by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Sources: Desmond; Rowena Cave, ‘George Cave’s Diary, Sikkim 1906’.
D.W.
Bertha Chandler (Mrs. C. Norman Kemp) was the first woman to obtain the degree of D.Sc. of Edinburgh University July 1915.
Author of "The Ferns of India: Enumeration, Synonyms and Distribution" (2000)
(2026) Manging Director of National Botanical Research Institute, Pteridology Department (Lucknow, India)