William Jackson Hooker

Fine portrait of the great botanist as a young man.

Hooker was born at Norwich in 1785. Following his father's fascination with exotic plants, he showed a precocious interest in botany and in 1809, through the encouragement of Sir Joseph Banks, made an expedition to Iceland. In 1815 he married the daughter of the brewer and botanist Dawson Turner, and settled at Halesworth in Suffolk. In these years he laid the foundations of his personal collection (including species recently discovered in Australia) which later formed the genesis of the Herbarium at Kew. In 1820 Hooker was appointed Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow, where he lectured while increasing both university and personal collections through his wide range of contacts throughout the colonies.

Hooker's fascination with exotic plants coincided with the settlement of the east coast of Australia. He cultivated close relationships with naturalists such as Robert Brown, Allan Cunningham and the colonial botanist Charles Fraser, encouraging them to acquire specimens which would later be incorporated into the Gardens at Kew. No less than eleven Australian species are described and beautifully illustrated in his Exotic Flora of 1823-1827. Hooker's position as the pre-eminent botanist in Britain was confirmed by his appointment as Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew which had fallen into neglect after the passing of Sir Joseph Banks in 1820.