I was very pleased to be invited to give a talk organised by the Curtis Museum in Alton, Hampshire, UK, not far from where I grew up in Eastleigh, Hants.
In my book I introduce the Hampshire towns of Alresford (watercress), Selborne (Gilbert White and sea kale) and Alton as the “Hampshire perennial vegetable triangle” or the UK hotspot of perennial vegetable domestication. Alton is included as the home of botanist William Curtis, who was Praefectus Horti at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London in the 1770s. He was also a friend of Gilbert White! He wrote a pamphlet, ‘Directions for the culture of the Crambe maritima or Sea Kale, for the use of the Table’ in 1799 to bolster efforts in introducing it as a market vegetable.
See the album of pictures from a wander around Alton with Sheila John of the Curtis museum, edimentals tour of the Allen Gallery garden and later talk there! See the album below!
Other related posts:
On the bus between Winchester and Alton, a sign pointing towards Gilbert White’s House (and also Jane Austen’s)!
Wandering around Alton with my host Sheila John, a charity shop with a Hosta plant for sale…
On the road where William Curtis the botanist lived, a Wisteria in full flower…had to resist having a taste of the flowers ;)
William Curtis’ house and Sheila John of the Curtis Museum
The chalk River Wey with wild watercress
The next talk after mine was about the Watercress Line!
Watercress had in the past been cultivated on the Flood Meadows near the centre of Alton…
The Flood Meadows in Alton where watercress had been cultivated in the past
The Flood Meadows in Alton where watercress had been cultivated in the past
Brooklime, Veronica beccabunga in the flood meadows
The Curtis Museum
The Curtis Museum
Entrance to the Curtis Museum
The venue for the talk, the Allen Gallery (after artist W. H: Allen); see https://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/allen-gallery
I lead an edimentals walk for a half hour in the garden before the talk. Sheila John showed me around beforehand and we found a number of excellent edibles :)
A little herb garden!
Viola spp.
Tulips out!
One of the staff had brought a Hosta plant along to my talk ;)
I was shown the collection of information about William Curtis the Botanist…
I prepared a couple of slides specially as I was at the Curtis Museum, this included this picture I took at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London where Curtis was demonstrator of plants and Praefectus Horti from 1771-1777! The Curtis Border at Chelsea celebrates some of the plants we associate with the man and with reference on the plant label to his Botanical Magazine! It seems that Curtis introduced day lily Hemerocallis fulva (one of the 80 in my book) to the UK :)
Slide showing the front of Curtis’ sea kale pamphlet, some interesting quotes from it and a picture of a sea kale pot and sign telling about the pamphlet at Chelsea!
There is no evidence that William Curtis the botanist ever met Gilbert White but he did know Gilbert’s brother – Thomas [Holt] White in London.
The London Botanic Garden, St George’s Fields, was opened on January 1st 1779 and in his proposals William said:
‘To the generosity and public spirit of the honourable Daines Barrington and Thomas White Esq., his principal patrons in this undertaking, the garden in a great degree owes its existence.’
Optimized print or PDF
There is no evidence that William Curtis the botanist ever met Gilbert White but he did know Gilbert’s brother – Thomas [Holt] White in London.
The London Botanic Garden, St George’s Fields, was opened on January 1st 1779 and in his proposals William said:
‘To the generosity and public spirit of the honourable Daines Barrington and Thomas White Esq., his principal patrons in this undertaking, the garden in a great degree owes its existence.’
Thank you for the clarification, Jane!