1. Annotation at top right: an[swere]d/22. viii.'05
2. Sir William Thiselton-Dyer (1843--1928). British Botanist and third Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1885--1905) He succeeded Joseph Hooker in that role after serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He married Hooker’s eldest daughter Harriet in1877.
3. The chalk portraits listed in this letter are part of a group in the same medium still held in Kew Art Collections.
4. Menzies, Archibald (1754--1842). Born in Perthshire, he started work in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, went on to study medicine there and then became a Surgeon in the Royal Navy. He participated in a number of expeditions as surgeon and naturalist. He wrote a journal of his travels on a round-the-world voyage on HMS Discovery under Captain Vancouver 1791--1794. He introduced Araucaria araucana (monkey puzzle) to Britain in 1796. He became a Fellow of the Linnaean Society in 1790. On retiring from the navy he set up a medical practice in London where he died.
5. Eddis, Eden Upton (1812--1901). Eddis was born in London, entered the Royal Academy schools in 1828 and won a silver medal in 1831. He quickly established himself as a portrait painter, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy exhibition. He attracted many distinguished sitters, but was also known for his portraits of children 6. MacNee, Daniel (1806--1882) was born in Stirlingshire, moved to Edinburgh where he worked with an engraver while studying painting at the Trustees' Academy. He moved to Glasgow in 1830 where he painted fancy subjects, genre scenes and portraits. He soon developed a very successful practice as a portrait painter, showing regularly at Glasgow and Edinburgh exhibitions, as well as at the Royal Academy in London, where he exhibited portraits of distinguished Scots.
7. Gray, Asa (1810--1888). Considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. He was instrumental in unifying the taxonomic knowledge of the plants of North America. Gray, Hooker and Darwin were lifelong friends and colleagues. Hooker and Gray conducted research for Darwin. He was a pupil of Torrey's.
8. Torrey, John (1796--1873) was born in New York City, studied medicine, joined the United States Army in 1824 as an assistant surgeon, became acting professor of chemistry and geology at West Point Academy and held a number of scientific posts in various institutions. He was professor of Chemistry at Princeton 1830-1854.He was the first president of the Torrey Botanical Club in 1873 and was also associated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Science.
9.Harvey, William Henry (1811--1866). Born in Limerick, he studied medicine in Dublin qualifying in 1844. Harvey became an authority on algae and bryophytes (mosses). While still a young man he became a friend of William Hooker's. From 1836-1842 he held posts in the administration of the Cape, South Africa where he also engaged in extensive botanical work. He then held various botanical posts in Dublin before travelling to Ceylon, Australia, Tasmania, Fiji and the Friendly Islands 1854-1856 where he made considerable collections and on which he also published. He was elected to the Linnean Society in 1857 and elected FRS in 1858.
10. Drummond, Thomas (c.1793--1835). Brother of James Drummond, was born in Scotland. He travelled as Assistant Naturalist to the second Land Arctic Expedition of 1825--1827 under Sir John Franklin, then from 1828 to 1831 was First Curator at the Belfast Botanic Gardens. He subsequently collected plants in North America, Canada and Mexico.
11.Greville, Robert Kaye (1794--1866). Born in England, Greville began the study of medicine in London and Edinburgh, but turned to the study of botany, publishing works on botany, mycology and bryology. He settled in Edinburgh where he was president of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1839, 1846 and 1865. He was also a corresponding member of scientific societies in Europe and America and was also widely known in Britain and abroad for his involvement in anti-slavery campaigns, being one of four vice -presidents at the World's Anti-Slavery Convention held in London in 1840. He also campaigned against capital punishment, for Sunday observance and was active in the temperance movement.
12. Douglas, David (1799--1834). Born in Scotland where he was apprenticed as a gardener .In 1820 he moved to the Glasgow Botanic Garden continuing his study of botany and encountering William Hooker. In 1823 he was sent to North America to collect plants and was the recommended by Hooker to the Royal Horticultural Society of London for whom he undertook another expedition to the Americas in 1824. He made further journeys in the same region in 1825--1827 and in 1830--1832. In 1833 he went to Hawaii, then known as the Sandwich Islands, where he died in1834. He introduced over two hundred new species; the Douglas Fir is named for him.
13. Wallich, Nathaniel (1786--1854). Surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the East India Company. In 1809 he was appointed assistant to the Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden, became acting Superintendent 1814--1816 and then Superintendent from 1816 till 1846; he retired to London in 1847 where he remained till his death. He collected plants in Nepal 1820--1821 and at the Cape 1842--1843. It was at his suggestion, made in 1814, that the Asiatic Society set up an India Museum of which he became the first curator and to which he was a major contributor.
14. Wight, Robert (1796--1872). Graduated in medicine from Edinburgh in 1818, went to India in 1819 as assistant-surgeon in the East India Company. He was stationed in Madras where he was Superintendent of the Botanic Garden from 1826 to 1828. In Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis published in six volumes,1840--1853, he made use of the work of Indian botanical artists. From 1842 to 1850 he was in charge of the Coimbatore Cotton Station, publishing a work on cotton cultivation.
15. Cunningham, Allan (1791--1839). Employed at Kew for which he collected plants from 1814-1831, travelling in Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. In 1837 he succeeded his brother, Richard Cunningham (1793-1851) as Superintendent of the Botanic Garden, Sydney. Richard also started his career at Kew. In 1883 he became Colonial Botanist to New South Wales and Superintendent of the Botanic Garden, Sydney. He travelled in New Zealand and in 1835 set out with the expedition to find the source of the Darling River on which he met his death.
16. Wardlaw, Ralph (1779--1853). Noted Glaswegian congregational minister and writer. He wrote on theology and ethics; he also concerned himself with social issues such as prostitution and was a prominent member of the anti-slavery movement. Macnee painted his portrait in 1851. 17.Waddell, Laurence Austine (1854--1938). Born in Scotland, qualified in medicine in Glasgow and joined the British army in 1880. He served in India, Burma, China and Tibet taking part in various military expeditions and invasions. He lectured on chemistry and pathology, collected plants in India, Sikkim and Tibet and published works on the cultures he encountered, on medicine and zoology, He came to be considered an expert on Tibet and on returning to England he held the post of Professor of Tibetan at University College, London 1906-1908. Lhasa and its Mysteries: with a Record of the British Tibetan Expedition of 1903-1904 was published in 1905.
18. Hooker, Frances (1891--1941). Daughter of Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker, granddaughter of Joseph Hooker with whom she lived for a time whilst her father was in Australia.

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