John Lindley 1799‐1865: Gardener, Botanist and Pioneer Orchidologist

Horticulture and botany in Britain owe much to John Lindley, the son of a Norfolk market gardener. Following some work in the horticultural trade he became assistant to Robert Brown, the keeper of Sir Joseph Banks’s library and herbarium. From there he went on to be Secretary of the Horticultural Society’s ground at Chiswick. He became Secretary to the Society after the departure of Sabine, who had run it into a precarious financial situation. The survival of the Society, now the Royal Horticultural Society, owes much to Lindley’s hard work. At the same time he was Professor of Botany at...