18 Facts About Joseph Whittaker

Joseph Whittaker was a British botanist who visited South Australia in 1839.

Joseph Whittaker was christened at Quarndon near Derby on 8 February 1813.

In 1838 Joseph Whittaker gave his occupation as "gardener" when he set sail with his new employer Lt.

Joseph Whittaker was the first person to seriously collect from the mountainous district of the Fleurieu Peninsula, Encounter Bay and Mount Barker.

Joseph Whittaker stayed in South Australia for nineteen months before sailing home on Katherine Stewart Forbes, which set sail from Port Adelaide on 11 April 1840.

Joseph Whittaker collected and pressed further plant specimens whilst the boat was in these harbours.

Joseph Whittaker arrived back in England on 23 September 1840 and by 1844 had begun collecting plants again.

Joseph Whittaker's activity peaked in 1851 and 52, ceasing sometime after 1867.

Joseph Whittaker collected from many parts of Derbyshire, but he occasionally travelled outside the county including Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, Rhyl and Denbigh in Wales.

Joseph Whittaker collected approximately 300 plants that were eventually acquired by Kew.

In February 1847 Joseph Whittaker was elected a member of the Botanical Society of London and he contributed specimens to its exchange schemes between 1849 and 1853.

Joseph Whittaker subsequently joined the Botanical Exchange Club and eventually the Botanical Locality Record Club.

Joseph Whittaker lived in the small village of Morley near Derby at Ferriby Brook with his wife Mary in the late 1850s.

Joseph Whittaker continued to teach here, taking up to twelve scholars into his classes, usually after they had left the local school, and were between eight and eighteen years of age.

Joseph Whittaker eventually established a large collection of living plants.

Joseph Whittaker was elected an 'Associate' of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, and remained on its membership listings from at least 1881 until 1891.

Joseph Whittaker's plant collecting activities began to decline around 1863, around the time his botanical partner, Henry Harpur Crewe, moved away to become the Rector of Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire.

Joseph Whittaker died on 2 March 1894 and a memorial lectern and engraved brass plaque were erected by popular subscription for St Matthew's Church, Morley, where he was a church warden and where he was buried.