Author: Leonie PatersonPage 2 of 3
John Hatley wasn’t at RBGE very long, joining us on 23rd July 1914 as a labourer at the age of 35. Genealogical researcher Garry Ketchen has been able…
When war began in August 1914, whilst most of RBGE’s male staff were joining the Royal Scots and the Cameron Highlanders, two of our staff members enlisted in…
In researching those past members of RBGE staff who enlisted and were killed during the First World War I’m aware of all those who enlisted and survived the…
The Library at the Botanics has recently acquired a new member of staff – or should that be an old member of staff? Certainly an old member of…
The Battle of the Somme commenced at 7:30am on the 1st July 1916, an offensive lasting for 141 days of blood, mud and horror. The first day stands…
In 1916, RBGE lost two members of staff in France during the First World War. The first was George Blackmore who was killed in the trenches of the…
In March 2016 we remembered the life of George Blackmore, a man who worked at RBGE as a labourer until the beginning of the First World War in 1914….
In early November 2015 we were lucky enough to be asked if we’d take a postgraduate student studying Archives and Records Management at Glasgow University for a two…
In memory of Lance Corporal William F. Bennett (1889-1915), Private Alan Menzies (1894-1915), Lance Corporal John Stewart (1891-1915) and Private George H. Stuart (1891-1915) In August 1914, RBGE…
The memorial poppy and wild flower meadow on the glasshouse lawn at RBGE has inspired many visitors to contemplate the bravery and sacrifice of men and women involved…
George Cruickshanks Fallow was born to Archibald (a grocer and fruit grower) and Margaret (by 1914 a postmistress) in Rosebank near Dalserf, Lanarkshire on the 5th November 1890. …
During the initial few months of the First World War 56 men out of a total male staff of around 88 at RBGE enlisted, rising to 73 by…
William G. Dickson joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as a Labourer on the 3rd August 1914, the day before Great Britain declared War on…
Duncan Smith began work at RBGE as a probationer or trainee gardener on the 4th January 1909 at the age of 24, receiving training and work experience in…
In researching this series of centenary blogs in which I research each of our former staff members who enlisted during the First World War and are named on our…
Walter Henry Morland joined the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) on the 5th January 1910 as a rose specialist. He came to RBGE near the age of 30…
5th Cameron Highlanders. Reported missing, presumed killed, on the 25th September 1915 at the Battle of Loos. We were delighted to be sent this photograph recently of Private…
Born on the 31st March 1853, the son of John Hutton Balfour who was Regius Keeper at RBGE between 1845 and 1879, Isaac Bayley Balfour grew up up in very close contact…
The Scots plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932) is now known as a talented photographer, though he didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of using a cumbersome glass plate camera,…
Plant Collector George Forrest (1873-1932) introduced over 300 new rhododendron species to Britain but one in particular dwarfed all of these, Rhododendron protistum, which is represented in our…