Anne Beatrix Wilmot-Horton (''née'' Horton, 1788 – 1871) was an English amateur botanist who was the dedicatee of the plant genus Hortonia and of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

’s poem '

She Walks in Beauty "She Walks in Beauty" is a short lyrical poem in iambic tetrameter written in 1814 by Lord Byron, and is one of his most famous works. It is said to have been inspired by an event in Byron's life. On 11 June 1814, Byron attended a party in Lo ...

Early life and family

She was born in 1788, the daughter of Eusebius Horton of Catton Hall, Derbyshire, and was co-heir to the estate with her sister Frances. In 1806 she married Sir Robert John Wilmot, 3rd baronet. The couple hyphenated their surnames at the request of Anne’s father’s will in 1823. They had eight children, one of whom died in infancy.

'She Walks in Beauty'

On 11 June 1814, Lord Byron (who was her husband’s cousin) saw Anne in mourning-clothes at a party, and composed 'She Walks in Beauty' about her the next day.

Botany

While her husband was governor of Ceylon, now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, Anne gained 'extensive knowledge of Ceylon plants.' Botanist

Robert Wight Robert Wight (6 July 1796 – 26 May 1872) was a Scottish surgeon in the East India Company, whose professional career was spent entirely in southern India, where his greatest achievements were in botany – as an economic botanist and leading ...

dedicated the genus Hortonia to her 'on account of the lively interest she takes in botany.'

Later life

In her widowhood she returned to Catton Hall. She was the godmother of John 'Jackie' Fisher and, in one of his visits to her, aided his naval career by introducing him to Admiral Sir William Parker, who nominated him as a cadet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmot-Horton, Anne Beatrix 1788 births 1871 deaths 19th-century English women British women botanists People from British Ceylon