1. Hyacinth Jardine Hooker (1842 -- 1921). Hyacinth became the second wife of the botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) on 22 August 1876, and they had two sons, Joseph (1877-1940) and Richard (1885-1950). No date is included in the letter but given the context it is 1877 when Hooker was travelling to visit America. 2. William Henslow Hooker (1853 -- 1942). Eldest child of Joseph and Frances Hooker, he was tutored by Berkeley as a child. He was later sent to New Zealand for his health and lived with James and Georgiana Hector (1869-70); employed by India Office in 1877; visited Iceland in 1899; married Sarah Ann Smith (1863 –1952) in 1914. 3. Sir William Thiselton-Dyer (1843 -- 1928). British botanist and third Director of the Royal Botanic gardens, Kew (1885 -- 1905). He succeeded Joseph Hooker in the role after serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877. 4. Presumably Sir Richard Strachey (1817 -- 1908) came from a family of long involved in the administration of India where in 1836 he was commissioned in the Bombay Engineers. He briefly saw active service, but was mainly engaged in engineering projects. He also studied botany, physical geography and geology.
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