Catalogue description Papers of Sir William Jackson Hooker, Botanist and first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Sir William Jackson Hooker was born in Norwich, 6 July 1785. His interest in botany developed early - he discovered the moss Buxbaumia aphylla in 1805 and the positive response he received encouraged his interest. He determined to concentrate his energies on the pursuit of botany and its associated activities, including using his great gift for botanical drawing. He was later elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society when only 21. During this formative period he met other prominent naturalists:- Robert Brown, Joseph Banks and Dawson Turner, to name but a few.

In1809 he made a botanic expedition to Iceland, but his collections and accompanying writing and drawings were all lost in a fire on board. On his return he joined a partnership with Dawson Turner in a brewing business in Halesworth, Suffolk. It wasn't a particularly profitable investment. In 1814, after a nine month botanical expedition through France, Switzerland, and Italy, he married Turner's daughter, Maria Sarah in 1815. After collaborating with Turner on the production of Historia Fucorum and beginning the illustrated British Jungermanniae in 1816, he took the seat of Regius Professor of Botany at University of Glasgow in 1820, which provided him with the financial security he felt he needed.

Here he developed his Herbarium and Library, and as well as teaching, produced many publications. He maintained and developed good relationships with the Foreign and Colonial Office, East India Company and the Admiralty. Via these connections he was able to send many of his students on Government expeditions; in return, his ex-students sent additions for the Herbarium. All the while he maintained a huge correspondence with leading botanists and other individuals. In 1836 he was knighted for his services to botany. Despite his success at Glasgow, he was keen to return to England, to be at the heart of botanical developments.

By 1838, the Botanic Gardens at Kew were in decline. Dr John Lindley (1799-1865, Professor of Botany at University College London from 1829 - 1860) reported to Parliament, recommending that the Gardens should be transferred to the state as the National Botanic Garden. Hooker was keen to become Director; after obtaining the backing of prominent figures such as Duke of Bedford, he was recommended for the post. The Treasury approved the transfer of Kew from the Lord Steward's department to the Office of Woods and Forests on 25 June 1840.

In 1841, William Aiton (1766-1849, superintendent at Kew from1793 and a founder member of the Horticultural Society of London) relinquished control of the gardens to Sir William. Hooker wished to expand the acreage of the gardens and also to develop the palm house. He immediately implemented some changes: the first one was to allow the public to walk unaccompanied around the grounds. In 1843, 45 acres of the Pleasure Grounds were added and in 1844, the construction of a new palm house was started, from plans by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner. The rest of the Pleasure Grounds and the old Deer Park were added to the Gardens in 1845. The new Palm House was completed in 1848 and in this year, Hooker developed a Museum of Economic Botany, another of his passions, in the Old Fruit Store. A further museum was opened in 1863 in the Orangery.

In 1852, William Hooker left his home at West House, Mortlake and moved to Hanover House on Kew Green where he was finally able to establish the Herbarium and Library on the ground floor. The herbaria and libraries of leading botanists George Bentham (1800-1884, President of the Linnean Society 1861-74) and William Arnold Bromfield (1801-1851) were also added, making Kew a major research centre. During this period, he continued with the editorship of periodicals begun in Glasgow. He developed his interest in ferns, publishing among others the 5 volume Species Filicum between 1846-64. He also wrote Century of Ferns 1854, British Ferns 1861 and Garden Ferns 1862. Many of the plates were created by Hooker although after 1835, he often relied on the talents of his favourite artist, Walter Fitch. In 1862, Hooker wrote a memorandum asking for his library and Herbarium to be bought by the Government for Kew and in 1863 he discussed a project with George Bentham for the continual publication of Colonial & Dominion floras, which had been started in 1859. He died in 1865, and his son, Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), a successful plant Collector, took over as the second Director of Kew.