Hooker Sir William Jackson

Hooker, Sir William Jackson, F.R.S., LL.D. (1785-1865), botanist, was born at Norwich.

In early life he made scientific expeditions to Iceland (1809), and to France, Switzerland, and Northern Italy (1814). In 1815 lie settled at Halesworth in Suffolk, whence he removed in 1820 to Glasgow as Regius Professor of Botany in the university. In 1841 he was appointed Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and during his tenure of the office converted them into a botanical establishment which has no rival hi the world. His published works, which were very numerous, include British Jungermannia (1816), Exotic Flora (1823-7), and British Flora (1830-42). His son, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (b. 1817), was born at Halesworth and educated at Glasgow. He took part in the scientific expedition of Sir James Clark Ross (1839-42), and by his observations on the flora of the Auckland Islands, New Zealand, and Tasmania, afterwards published in Flora Antarctica, added greatly to the knowledge of the distribution of plants. A popular account of his travels in India (1848-51) is given in his Himalayan Journals (1854), while Flora Indica and other botanical works record their scientific results. In 1855 he became assistant director of Kew Gardens, and held the office of director from 1865 to 1885. During these years he carried on the work which his father had begun, and under his management the gardens have been very greatly improved. As President of the British Association in 1868 he supported the views of Darwin regarding evolution.

In 1871 he visited Morocco, and ascended the Great Atlas. He was President of the Eritish Association from 1873 to 1878. His chief work was his Genera Plantarum (1862-76), written in conjunction with Mr. George Bentham.