Sherriff, George

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Sherriff, George

Parallel form(s) of name

  • Sherriff, G.
  • Sherriff, George (Captain)
  • Sherriff, George (Major)

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Other form(s) of name

Identifiers for corporate bodies

Description area

Dates of existence

1898-1967

History

George Sherriff attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and fought in the First World War in France in 1918, where he was gassed. In 1919 he was sent to India and served on the north-west frontier. In 1927 he was appointed British vice-consul in Kashgar, Chinese Turkestan and while there travelled widely. In 1929 he met Frank Ludlow and their shared interests in ornithology, travel and plants started a lifelong friendship. During the 1930s they went on a series of plant and bird collecting expeditions working eastward along the main Himalayan ranges. In 1933, for example, they travelled to Tibet, Nang-kartse, Gyantse and back to India making 500 gatherings of plants and seeds; their collections included 69 species of rhododendron, 15 new to science. Sherriff resumed his military service during the Second World War, first in Assam and later in Sikkim and in 1943 he succeeded Frank Ludlow in charge of British Mission in Lhasa. After the war he continued collecting in south east Tibet, again with Ludlow. In 1949 both retired from India and went a final expedition to Bhutan to gather alpine and temperate flora. George Sherriff funded virtually all his expeditions himself and, as well as collecting, took thousands of photographs. He was one of first plant collectors to send specimens in crates back by air to Kew, Edinburgh and Wisley and his best plant introductions were rhododendrons, primulas, and peonies. On retirement Sherriff bought an estate near Kirriemuir in Angus where he grew many Himalayan plants with great success. In his later years he served in the Home Guard, on the county council and as session clerk of his local church.

Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; R. Desmond ‘Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists; obituary folder; H.R. Fletcher ‘A Quest for Flowers’.
D.W.

Places

Stirlingshire, Scotland

Legal status

Functions, occupations and activities

VMH Explorer and plant collector

Mandates/sources of authority

Internal structures/genealogy

General context

Relationships area

Related entity

Sherriff, Betty (?-1979)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Wife

Related entity

Sherriff, Catherine

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Mother

Access points area

Subject access points

Place access points

Occupations

Control area

Authority record identifier

GB/NNAF/P137301

Institution identifier

GB 235

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language(s)

Script(s)

Maintenance notes

  • Clipboard

  • Export

  • EAC

Related subjects

Related places