Joseph Whittaker (botanist)
Encyclopedia
Joseph Whittaker was a British
Botanist who visited South Australia in 1839. Whittaker has 300 plants from that trip in Kew Gardens and 2,200 pressed British plants in Derby Museum and Art Gallery
.
near Derby on 8 February 1813. His father, also named Joseph, was a labourer, married to Sarah (born Clarke). The son is sometimes reported as being born in Breadsall
in 1815.
In 1838 Whittaker gave his occupation as "gardener" when he set sail with his new employer Lt. Col. George Gawler
, who had recently been appointed as the second Governor of South Australia. Whittaker, seven other employees from Derbyshire, Gawler and his wife and children arrived on the Pestonjee Bomanjee on 12 October 1838 in Adelaide
. They had made a four month journey via Tenerife
and Rio de Janeiro
. When Whittaker and Gawler arrived they found that conditions were poor, so gardening was not the top priority.
He is known for the plants that he collected around Adelaide
in South Australia
in 1839-40. During breaks in his employment Whittaker travelled to many places within South Australia where he collected and preserved a wide range of plant specimens. These included Mount Lofty range
, Mount Jagged, River Torrens
, River Murray and the Hindmarsh River. Whittaker was the first person to seriously collect from the mountainous district of the Fleurieu Peninsula
, Encounter Bay
and Mount Barker
.
Whittaker stayed in South Australia for nineteen months before sailing home on the Katherine Stuart Forbes which set sail from Port Adelaide on 11 April 1840. On the way home his boat stopped four times at Kangaroo Island
, Mauritius
, St Helena and Corvo Island
in the Azores
. Whittaker collected and pressed further plant specimens whilst the boat was in these harbours.
and Denbigh
in Wales.
By 1846 he was living at Breadsall
in Derbyshire where he was a schoolmaster at Breadsall Boys School. From here he corresponded with Sir William J. Hooker
Director of the Kew Botanic Gardens in an attempt to exchange some of his Australian and related specimens for a number of books on British botany. Whittaker collected approximately 300 plants that were eventually acquired by Kew.
Whittaker's collections from outside the U.K. are now in Kew Gardens. Whittaker had the species of sundew
Drosera whittakeri
named after him.
In February 1847 Whittaker was elected a member of the Botanical Society of London and he contributed specimens to its exchange schemes between 1849 to 1853. He subsequently joined the Botanical Exchange Club and eventually the Botanical Locality Record Club. By 1847 he had amassed enough botanical information to publish “a list of rare plants found in the neighbourhood of Breadsall, Derbyshire”. This contained a mixture of both rare and relatively abundant species, and gives a good indication of the botanical diversity of the area at that time. In 1857 he was the schoolmaster of ninety children at Breadsall
in Derbyshire, a village whose inhabitants included the naturalists Rev. Henry Harpur Crewe
and Francis Darwin
. The school was funded by the Harpur-Crewe family.
Whittaker lived in the small village of Morley near Derby at Ferriby Brook (the name of his house) with his wife Mary in the late 1850s. He continued to teach here, taking up to twelve scholars into his classes, usually after they had left the local school, and were between eight and eighteen years of age. He eventually established a large collection of living plants. Local horticultural groups reported he was growing over 1,300 different species. In 1864 he was publishing works noting the local extinction of the Lady's Slipper Orchid Cypripedium calceolus
with the Rev. Henry Harpur Crewe. By 1871 he was no longer a schoolmaster, and is then listed as a “seedsman and florist”. By 1881 these returns described him as a “nurseryman and farmer”, with two servants living in his house, plus twenty year old William Whitehead. Whitehead was to eventually become a partner in their market gardening venture.
Whittaker’s plant collecting activities began to decline around 1863, around the time his botanical partner, Henry Harpur Crewe
, moved away to become the Rector of Drayton Beauchamp
in Buckinghamshire. In the following year they cooperated in the production of a manuscript list of the principal flowering plants and ferns of Derbyshire. His partnership with Crewe lasted for at least eighteen years and was very productive. The Harpur Crewe's family seat were based at nearby Calke Abbey
and they had funded the school at Breadsall.
In the late 1880s Joseph Whittaker gave valuable assistance, and supplied a range of plant specimens, to Rev W.H.Painter
who was preparing to publish a book on the Flora of Derbyshire. Many of Whittaker’s specimens and records were also used by William Richardson Linton
, vicar of Shirley
in a further Flora of Derbyshire in 1903.
Whittaker died on 2 March 1894 and a memorial lectern and engraved brass plaque were erected by popular subscription for St Matthew's Church, Morley
, where he was a church warden and where he was buried.
at Derby Museum and Art Gallery
. They provide important voucher specimens for local studies on the flora of Derbyshire. Due to his participation in botanical exchanges clubs, there are now Whittaker specimens in many UK museum collections, including those at Bolton
, Birmingham
, Gloucester
and Manchester
. The Wisbech and Fenland Museum
also has a small collection.
The carnivorous sundew species was scientifically described by the French botanist Jules Émile Planchon
in 1848. This is commonly known as the Scented Sundew or Whittaker's Sundew.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Botanist who visited South Australia in 1839. Whittaker has 300 plants from that trip in Kew Gardens and 2,200 pressed British plants in Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collection includes a whole gallery displaying the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby; there is also a large...
.
Early Days
Whittaker’s exact birth date is not known. He was christened at QuarndonQuarndon
Quarndon is a linear village in the English county of Derbyshire.It is due north of, and essentially contiguous with, the City of Derby's suburb of Allestree. Formerly it was notable for its chalybeate springs that were at the well and in the grounds of neighbouring Kedleston Hall...
near Derby on 8 February 1813. His father, also named Joseph, was a labourer, married to Sarah (born Clarke). The son is sometimes reported as being born in Breadsall
Breadsall
Breadsall is a village in the English county of Derbyshire, . Breadsall Priory is nearby.-History:Breadsall was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth four pounds...
in 1815.
Australian Botany
George Gawler
-External links: – Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK...
, who had recently been appointed as the second Governor of South Australia. Whittaker, seven other employees from Derbyshire, Gawler and his wife and children arrived on the Pestonjee Bomanjee on 12 October 1838 in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. They had made a four month journey via Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. When Whittaker and Gawler arrived they found that conditions were poor, so gardening was not the top priority.
He is known for the plants that he collected around Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
in 1839-40. During breaks in his employment Whittaker travelled to many places within South Australia where he collected and preserved a wide range of plant specimens. These included Mount Lofty range
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...
, Mount Jagged, River Torrens
River Torrens
The River Torrens is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains and was one of the reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Adelaide Hills near Mount Pleasant, across the Adelaide Plains, past the city centre and empties...
, River Murray and the Hindmarsh River. Whittaker was the first person to seriously collect from the mountainous district of the Fleurieu Peninsula
Fleurieu Peninsula
The Fleurieu Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Adelaide in South Australia, Australia. It was named after the French explorer and hydrographer Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu by the French explorer Nicolas Baudin as he mapped the south coast of Australia in 1802.Towns of interest in the...
, Encounter Bay
Encounter Bay
Encounter Bay is located on the south central coast of South Australia, some 100 km south of Adelaide, South Australia. It is named after the encounter on 8 April 1802 between Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, both of whom were charting the Australian coastline for their respective countries...
and Mount Barker
Mount Barker
Mount Barker may refer to one of two towns in Australia:* Mount Barker, South Australia* Mount Barker, Western AustraliaMount Barker may also refer to one of the following:...
.
Whittaker stayed in South Australia for nineteen months before sailing home on the Katherine Stuart Forbes which set sail from Port Adelaide on 11 April 1840. On the way home his boat stopped four times at Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf St Vincent. Its closest point to the mainland is off Cape Jervis, on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia. The island is long...
, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, St Helena and Corvo Island
Corvo Island
Corvo Island , literally the Island of the Crow, is the smallest and the northernmost island of the Azores archipelago and the northernmost in Macaronesia, with a population of approximately 468 inhabitants constituting the smallest single municipality in Azores and in Portugal.-History:A small...
in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
. Whittaker collected and pressed further plant specimens whilst the boat was in these harbours.
Derbyshire Botany
Whittaker arrived back in England on 23 September 1840 and by 1844 had begun collecting plants again. His activity peaked in 1851 and 52, ceasing sometime after 1867. He collected from many parts of Derbyshire, but he occasionally travelled outside the county including Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, RhylRhyl
Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community situated on the north east coast of Wales, in the county of Denbighshire , at the mouth of the River Clwyd . To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south...
and Denbigh
Denbigh
Denbigh is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Before 1888, it was the county town of Denbighshire. Denbigh lies 8 miles to the north west of Ruthin and to the south of St Asaph. It is about 13 miles from the seaside resort of Rhyl. The town grew around the glove-making industry...
in Wales.
By 1846 he was living at Breadsall
Breadsall
Breadsall is a village in the English county of Derbyshire, . Breadsall Priory is nearby.-History:Breadsall was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth four pounds...
in Derbyshire where he was a schoolmaster at Breadsall Boys School. From here he corresponded with Sir William J. Hooker
William Jackson Hooker
Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...
Director of the Kew Botanic Gardens in an attempt to exchange some of his Australian and related specimens for a number of books on British botany. Whittaker collected approximately 300 plants that were eventually acquired by Kew.
Whittaker's collections from outside the U.K. are now in Kew Gardens. Whittaker had the species of sundew
Sundew
Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface. The insects are used to supplement...
Drosera whittakeri
Drosera whittakeri
Drosera whittakeri is a sundew that is native to South Australia.-Description:Plants are 4 to 8 cm in diameter, with broadly spathulate leaves arranged in a rosette. These may be green, orange-yellow or red in colour and are 10 to 15 mm long and 9 to 13 mm wide...
named after him.
In February 1847 Whittaker was elected a member of the Botanical Society of London and he contributed specimens to its exchange schemes between 1849 to 1853. He subsequently joined the Botanical Exchange Club and eventually the Botanical Locality Record Club. By 1847 he had amassed enough botanical information to publish “a list of rare plants found in the neighbourhood of Breadsall, Derbyshire”. This contained a mixture of both rare and relatively abundant species, and gives a good indication of the botanical diversity of the area at that time. In 1857 he was the schoolmaster of ninety children at Breadsall
Breadsall
Breadsall is a village in the English county of Derbyshire, . Breadsall Priory is nearby.-History:Breadsall was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth four pounds...
in Derbyshire, a village whose inhabitants included the naturalists Rev. Henry Harpur Crewe
Henry Harpur Crewe
Henry Harpur Crewe was an English clergyman and naturalist. He was rector of Breadsall and then Drayton Beauchamp from 1860 until his death.-Biography:...
and Francis Darwin
Francis Sacheverel Darwin
Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin was a physician and traveller who was knighted by King George IV.- Early life :...
. The school was funded by the Harpur-Crewe family.
Whittaker lived in the small village of Morley near Derby at Ferriby Brook (the name of his house) with his wife Mary in the late 1850s. He continued to teach here, taking up to twelve scholars into his classes, usually after they had left the local school, and were between eight and eighteen years of age. He eventually established a large collection of living plants. Local horticultural groups reported he was growing over 1,300 different species. In 1864 he was publishing works noting the local extinction of the Lady's Slipper Orchid Cypripedium calceolus
Cypripedium calceolus
Cypripedium calceolus is a lady's-slipper orchid, and the type species of the genus Cypripedium.It is a widespread plant worldwide, found from Europe east through Asia to the Pacific Ocean. It is found in open woodland on moist calcareous soils. It is found in continental Europe growing in the...
with the Rev. Henry Harpur Crewe. By 1871 he was no longer a schoolmaster, and is then listed as a “seedsman and florist”. By 1881 these returns described him as a “nurseryman and farmer”, with two servants living in his house, plus twenty year old William Whitehead. Whitehead was to eventually become a partner in their market gardening venture.
Whittaker’s plant collecting activities began to decline around 1863, around the time his botanical partner, Henry Harpur Crewe
Henry Harpur Crewe
Henry Harpur Crewe was an English clergyman and naturalist. He was rector of Breadsall and then Drayton Beauchamp from 1860 until his death.-Biography:...
, moved away to become the Rector of Drayton Beauchamp
Drayton Beauchamp
Drayton Beauchamp is a village and civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the east of the county, near the border boundary Hertfordshire, about six miles from Aylesbury and two miles from Tring.-History:...
in Buckinghamshire. In the following year they cooperated in the production of a manuscript list of the principal flowering plants and ferns of Derbyshire. His partnership with Crewe lasted for at least eighteen years and was very productive. The Harpur Crewe's family seat were based at nearby Calke Abbey
Calke Abbey
Calke Abbey is a Grade I listed country house near Ticknall, Derbyshire, England, in the care of the charitable National Trust.The site was an Augustinian priory from the 12th century until its dissolution by Henry VIII...
and they had funded the school at Breadsall.
In the late 1880s Joseph Whittaker gave valuable assistance, and supplied a range of plant specimens, to Rev W.H.Painter
William Hunt Painter
William Hunt Painter was an English botanist who made a significant contribution to the science of Derbyshire vascular plant flora. He was a keen and wide-ranging collector of plant specimens, and was a member of the Botanical Exchange Club...
who was preparing to publish a book on the Flora of Derbyshire. Many of Whittaker’s specimens and records were also used by William Richardson Linton
William Richardson Linton
Rev. William Richardson Linton , Corpus Christi College, M.A., was an English botanist and vicar of the parish of Shirley, Derbyshire. He married Alice Shirley Rev. William Richardson Linton (Diddington, Huntingdonshire, April 2, 1850 - Ashbourne, Derbyshire, April 7, 1908), Corpus Christi College,...
, vicar of Shirley
Shirley, Derbyshire
Shirley is a small village in Derbyshire, close to the town of Ashbourne. It is situated in the countryside on top of a small hill.-History:Shirley was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth forty shillings.....
in a further Flora of Derbyshire in 1903.
Whittaker died on 2 March 1894 and a memorial lectern and engraved brass plaque were erected by popular subscription for St Matthew's Church, Morley
Morley, Derbyshire
Morley is a civil parish within the area of Erewash Borough Council in the English county of Derbyshire, north of Derby It is on the eastern side of Morley Moor, with Morley Smithy to the north. The parish church of St Matthew stands near the Tithe Barn and dovecote of Morley Hall...
, where he was a church warden and where he was buried.
Legacy
Whittaker's collection at Kew Gardens is from his trip to Australia and from ports of call on his return journey home. He also left a collection of 2,200 pressed plants in 79 volumes, mostly from Derbyshire, which are now incorporated in the herbariumHerbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
at Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collection includes a whole gallery displaying the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby; there is also a large...
. They provide important voucher specimens for local studies on the flora of Derbyshire. Due to his participation in botanical exchanges clubs, there are now Whittaker specimens in many UK museum collections, including those at Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. The Wisbech and Fenland Museum
Wisbech & Fenland Museum
The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The Museum Society was founded in 1835 and the present building was opened in 1847....
also has a small collection.
The carnivorous sundew species was scientifically described by the French botanist Jules Émile Planchon
Jules Émile Planchon
Jules Émile Planchon was a French botanist born in Ganges, Hérault.-Biography:After receiving his Doctorate of Science at the University of Montpellier in 1844, he worked for a while at the Royal Botanical Gardens in London, and for a few years was a teacher in Nancy and Ghent...
in 1848. This is commonly known as the Scented Sundew or Whittaker's Sundew.