Humphrey Morrison Burkill

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(8 December 1914 - 12 July 2006), was a director of the

Singapore Botanic Gardens The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a -year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Th ...

from 1957 to 1969.

Early life and education

Burkill was born to

Isaac Henry Burkill Isaac Henry Burkill (18 May 1870 – 8 March 1965) was an English botanist who worked in India and in the Straits Settlements (present day Singapore). He worked primarily in economic botany but published extensively on plant biology, ethno-botany ...

and Ethel Maud Morrison on 8 December 1914 in the Director's House on the grounds of the gardens of the

. When Burkill was four, he was put in the care of a family from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, and attended a preparatory school when he was eight. He attended

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

when he was thirteen, and later attended

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

. He studied in the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1936. He received his postgraduate degree in crop husbandry in 1939.

Career

After getting a job from Dunlop Malayan Estates, Burkill returned to

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British Empire, British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the ...

to become a rubber planter, and learnt Malay and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, which was expected of him, as well as

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and Thai. He later joined the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force. As the Japanese invaded Malaya during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Burkill became part of the retreat to Singapore, after which he seconded to the Royal Engineers. Following the

Fall of Singapore The fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore, took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. S ...

, he was detained in

Changi Prison Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison complex in the namesake district of Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. It is the oldest and largest prison in the country, covering an area of about . Opened in 193 ...

by the Japanese. He was sent to a labour camp in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, where he collected wood cut in the countryside and transported it down a river. As he could speak Thai, he communicated with the local villagers and secretly did illicit trading. After the Japanese surrendered, he returned to Malaya to work for Dunlop, and became a botanist for the

Rubber Research Institute of Malaya The Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM; ) is a research center for problems and matters pertaining to rubber and its industry in Malaysia. History On 29 June 1925, the bill to incorporate the Rubber Research Institute of Malaya was pass ...

in 1948. Burkill was appointed as the assistant director of the gardens in 1954 by then Gardens director M. R. Henderson. He became the director in 1957, succeeding John William Purseglove. He oversaw changes in the staff when Singapore became part of

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, with the largely British administrators and researchers being replaced by locals such as Chew Wee Lek and Chang Khiaw Lan. He oversaw the first serious investigation of Malayan seaweeds. Burkill delivered a paper on the Role of Singapore Botanic Gardens in the development of orchid hybrids in Singapore during the 1963

World Orchid Conference The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

in Singapore. Burkill retired from his position as director in the middle of 1969. He was offered work at the

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

to revise ''Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa'', which was written by J. M. Dalziel and published in 1937.

Personal life

Burkill married Joan Bloomer on 28 June 1946. They have a son and a daughter. Following his retirement, he and his family moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. His wife died in 2004. Burkill died on 12 July 2006 at his residence in

Plymouth, England Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Accolades

Burkill was awarded the

during the

1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...

Legacy

The Director's House on the grounds of the Gardens was later renamed Burkill Hall after both Burkill and his father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkill, Humphrey Morrison 1914 births 2006 deaths Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire