John Scott Lennox Gilmour

VMH The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society. The award was established in 1897 "in per ...

FLS (28 September 1906 – 3 June 1986) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the Cambridge University Herbarium, and later

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Cambridge University Botanic Garden The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in Cambridge, England, associated with the university Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany School). It lies be ...

and Fellow of

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

Life

John Gilmour was born in London and educated at Downs School, Malvern,

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils 13–18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. ...

, Rutland and

. From 1930 to 1931 he was Curator of the Herbarium and Botanical Museum, Botany School,

Cambridge University 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 ...

, from 1931 to 1946 Assistant Director,

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 1,10 ...

, from 1946 to 1951 Director,

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Wisley Wisley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England between Cobham and Woking, in the Borough of Guildford. It is the home of the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Garden. The River Wey runs through the village and Ockham and Wisley C ...

and from 1951 to 1973 Director, Cambridge University Botanic Garden. With

William T. Stearn William Thomas Stearn (; 16 April 1911 – 9 May 2001) was a British botanist. Born in Cambridge in 1911, he was largely self-educated and developed an early interest in books and natural history. His initial work experience was at a C ...

he issued two

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

-like works ''Herbarium florae Cantabrigiensis'' and ''Sertum Cantabrigiense exsiccatum'' (1933).Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2024 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany. From 1946 to 1979 he was also editor of the ''

New Naturalist The New Naturalist Library (also known as ''The New Naturalists'') is a series of books published by Collins in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Br ...

''. John, a declared atheist, teamed up with Fr Maycock of Little Saint Mary's to help found the Cambridge Cyrenians, dealing with the homeless. He died in 1986, at the age of 79.

Cambridge 1951–1973

On returning to Cambridge, Gilmour succeeded Humphrey Gilbert-Carter as director in 1951, he was an important force in the development of the Eastern Garden, once the

Cory As a given name, Cory is used by both males and females. It is a variation of the name Cora, meaning "(the) Maiden", which is a title of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in a cauldr ...

Fund monies became available, and the Cory Laboratory and glasshouses were constructed in 1957. His scientific contributions were largely in the field of

systematics Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...

and

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

, playing an important role in the

Systematics Association The Systematics Association (SystAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1937 for the promotion of the study of systematics and taxonomy. It publishes research, organises conferences, and provides competitive researc ...

. When he retired in 1973 he was succeeded by

Max Walters Stuart Max Walters (23 May 1920 – 11 December 2005) was a British botanist and academic. Walters was educated at Penistone Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he took a first-class degree in natural sciences.Peter Grubb"Max ...

Awards

In 1957 he was awarded the

Victoria Medal of Honour The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society. The award was established in 1897 "in per ...

and in 1966 their

Veitch Memorial Medal The Veitch Memorial Medal is an international prize awarded annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Goal The prize is awarded to "persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement ...

Selected publications

* Gilmour, J. and S. M. Walters, (1954) Wild Flowers, Botanising Britain, Collins * Gilmour, J. and S. M. Walters, (1955) New Naturalist No 5, Wild Flowers, Collins

References

Bibliography

* * * * 1906 births 1986 deaths People educated at Uppingham School Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge 20th-century British botanists New Naturalist writers Veitch Memorial Medal recipients Victoria Medal of Honour recipients {{UCambridge-stub