Three photographs of Park Keepers at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh featuring George Tait, donated by his family in 2026.
George Tait (1872-1950) was a Park Keeper at RBGE between 1911 and Dec.1936; he served in the Boer War and WW1; Royal Scots / 1st Gordon Highlanders.
/1 - 'Granddad Tait Britanical Gdns' - photograph of George Tait at West Gate Lodge(?)
/2 - Park Keepers, Royal Botanic Gdns, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1935, G.Tait; photograph showing seven Park Keepers at RBGE in 1935; presumably George Tait (front, right) and his colleagues, Sgt John M. Lugton, Arthur W. Hudson, Douglas Hunter, James D. Kerr, Robert M. MacLeish and Henry M. Smith.
/3 - 'Granddad Tait, Gatehouse, Botanic Gardens'; photograph showing three Park Keepers at a gate box; George Tait in the centre.
A biography of George Tait was provided by his family; kept with accession records.
The 28 photographs in this series, taken by Pietro Guidi in San Remo, Italy, in the 1870s formed part of the Photographic Flora of San Remo, supervised by local pharmacist Francesco Panizzi. Each photograph has a Latin name, locality and a flowering time and som are hand coloured.
Panizzi, Francesco3 photographs taken at RBGE by George T. Malthouse in the 1890s, all showing the transportation of trees around RBGE: Araucaria imbricata, Quercus cerris and Crataegus oxyacantha, all with gardeners around the transporter.
Malthouse, George T.47 photographs / studies of members of RBGE staff, mainly gardeners / probationer gardeners, some named, but many not.
Names include David Sydney Fish (x2), W. Douglas, Murray, David Wilkie, James D. McKenzie, James Esplin, D.M. Ross, William Ritchie, H.B. Anderson, Andrew R. Cosh, Thomas Sherlock, Douglas Law, William Fernie and Alexander Reid.
1 folder with Photocopy of personal journal of E.H.M. Cox 31st January - 29th December 1919. Covering the Burma Expedition with Reginald John Farrer (17 February 1880 – 17 October 1920)
Remarkable account of 2 people, written between 1919 and 1920 and occasionally containing language and attitudes that would be considered offensive today; E.H.M. Cox, photographer, botanist, hunter, writer, and Reginald Farrer: botanist, painter and writer. Sail to Rangoon from Liverpool. Train and boat to Myitkyina and make base; from there they make expeditions into Kachin country with a large train of coolies, Gurkhas and Indian staff. Routine [as far as possible] seems to be gathering specimens, plants and seeds, taking photos, both glass plate and roll film, drying and pressing plants. Travelling from place to place and camping for as long as they need. Long treks in the north-east highlands climbing to 10,000 ft. and more. The diary is very closely observed and personal .The writer finds he has to do much more than the above accomplishments due to non-appearance of cooks, coolies etc. The weather plays an important part in the diary due to its erratic behaviour. Interesting that they receive pretty regular mail and both write a lot in return. British District Officers play a [generally] useful part in their plant searches. [description by SM]
/1 notebook; "Noteworthy Plants at RBGE 1947"
/2 lecture notes, c.1950 - probation gardener course at RBGE
/3/1-18 exam papers taken at RBGE, 1948-1951
/4 certificate awarded at completion of course
/5 photographs taken at RBGE, 4 donated, 1 scan of Peter Michie in Palm House
/6 photograph album/notebook of shots of RBGE taken in 1930-1950 by Roland Edgar Cooper "Showing glimpses of the layout plan of 1824"
/7 "The Weather Map" - 1948 textbook used for Meteorology course
•File containing 2 notebooks, titled ‘Flora Scotica’ and ‘Local Flora – Mainly West Cornwall’
Penson, Jim•Letter sent by Pennant to Sir Roger Mostyn M.P., 9th Sept 1783)
•Transcript of a letter sent by Pennant to Sir Roger Mostyn M.P. (09.09.1783), presented by Miss Carruthers, (03.11.1964
•Brief history of the life of Henry Harold Welch Pearson, up to 1902, and list of his publications (24.11.1902)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew•Memo book titled ‘Agarics: New Records and Observations’ (1938), from Dr. Roy Watling through Alan Bennell
Pearson, Arthur Anselm