William Jackson Hooker
Hooker, William Jackson (1785-1865) was an English botanist, prolific author, and gifted botanical illustrator. He became the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1841, upon the park's presentation to the nation.
Hooker was born in Norwich, England, and at 19 became keenly interested in botany after discovering a moss that had never before been identified in England. While still in his 20's he began an herbarium at Halesworth. He expanded his herbarium over the years into the largest and most valuable privately held herbarium in the country. The herbarium at his house West Park attracted a host of international scientists and ultimately occupied 13 rooms, contained a million specimens of dried plants, and had a library of more than 4,000 books.
Aside from writing, illustrating, and editing Curtis's Botanical Magazine, Hooker contributed to other journals. He also wrote numerous books on botany, including British Jungermanniae, which made his reputation and is considered his most beautiful work. In 1820, he became regius professor of botany at Glasgow University, and along with his teaching duties there, he expanded the city's botanic garden from 8,000 plant species to 20,000.
In 1820, he also began a long battle to see the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew established as a national botanic garden. He succeeded in 1840 and became the gardens' first director the next year. Throughout the rest of his life, Hooker built Kew into one of the world's leading botanic gardens. The gardens were opened to the public in 1841.
In 1847, Hooker also established the popular Museum of Economic Botany. The first museum of its kind, it displayed specimens of vegetable products and materials for craftsmen, tradesmen, and manufacturers. The museum contained so many exhibits that by 1863 it had expanded to fill three separate buildings.
After Hooker's death, his son, Joseph Dalton, took over the directorship of Kew Gardens, and himself gained an outstanding reputation as a botanist.