1. John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.
29 Facts About John Lindley
1. 2.
George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden.
3.
John Lindley would have liked to go to university or to buy a commission in the army but the family could not afford either.
4.
John Lindley became Belgian agent for a London seed merchant in 1815.
5.
John Lindley concentrated on the genera Rosa and Digitalis and published the monograph "A Botanical History of Roses" which distinguished seventy-six species, describes thirteen new ones and was illustrated by nineteen coloured plates painted by himself.
6.
John Lindley became acquainted with Joseph Sabine who grew a large assortment of roses and was the Secretary of the Horticultural Society of London.
7.
John Lindley's employment came to an abrupt end with the death of Banks a few months later.
8.
One of Banks' friends, a wealthy merchant called William Cattley, paid John Lindley to draw and describe new plants in his garden at Barnet.
9.
John Lindley was appointed assistant secretary to the Royal Horticultural Society and its new garden at Chiswick in 1822, where he supervised the collection of plants.
10.
John Lindley lectured on botany from 1831 at the Royal Institution, including delivering the 1833 Royal Institution Christmas Lecture, and from 1836 at the Chelsea Physic Garden, starting the society's flower show in the late 1830s.
11.
John Lindley described the plants collected on Thomas Livingstone Mitchell's expeditions of 1838 and wrote an Appendix to Edwards's Botanical Register of 1839, describing plants collected by James Drummond and Georgiana Molloy of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia.
12.
John Lindley played a large part in having Charles Moore appointed as Director of the Sydney Botanical Gardens.
13.
John Lindley was a fellow of the Royal, Linnean and Geological Societies.
14.
John Lindley received the Royal Society's royal medal in 1857, and in 1853 became a corresponding member of the Institut de France.
15.
About this time, the Horticultural Society of London, which became the Royal Horticultural Society at a later date, asked John Lindley to draw roses and in 1822 he became the Assistant Secretary of the Society's garden.
16.
Sabine resigned as Secretary and John Lindley successfully defended his own position and carried the Society forward with the new Honorary Secretary, George Bentham.
17.
In 1828 John Lindley was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London and in 1833 was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Munich.
18.
In 1829 John Lindley sought to augment his income and became professor of botany at the newly established London University while still continuing his post at the Royal Horticultural Society.
19.
John Lindley had not been to university himself but apparently was an excellent teacher, giving six hour-long lectures each week.
20.
On 11 February 1840, John Lindley told the Prime Minister that the matter was to be raised in Parliament.
21.
In 1845, John Lindley was part of a scientific commission set up by the Government to investigate potato blight and the Irish famine.
22.
John Lindley was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1859.
23.
John Lindley was very industrious and published a number of works including The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants, the writing of which occupied him for ten years.
24.
John Lindley was acknowledged to be the top authority on the classification of orchids of his time.
25.
Over many years, John Lindley had described a large number of orchid species, and many other plants, naming them and giving each a concise description of the plant's characteristics.
26.
In 1861, John Lindley took charge of organising the exhibits from the British colonies for the International Exhibition at South Kensington.
27.
John Lindley resigned his university professorship that year and his position as Secretary to the Royal Horticultural Society two years later.
28.
John Lindley died at his home at Acton Green, near London, aged 66.
29.
John Lindley was survived by his wife, two daughters including Sarah Lindley Crease and a son.