Ellen Willmott: An Influential but Undervalued Horticulturist
Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:00 -Tuesday, 31 October 2023 19:15
This is an online event.
A talk on Ellen Willmott, one of horticulture's most enigmatic figures, world famous in her lifetime, almost forgotten after her death
Please do consider a donation - your smallest kindness will go a long away for us in helping us deliver our nature and natural history programmes.
Miss Ellen Willmott is one of horticulture's most enigmatic figures. World famous in her lifetime, almost forgotten after her death, she created three renowned gardens, pioneered thousands of new plants and fought for her place alongside men in society. She is also one of the first fifteen women accepted as Fellows of the Linnean Society.
Willmott has endured a chequered reputation in the past, but recent new discoveries have forced a re-evaluation of her life and work, not least that her work as a photographer has been severely undervalued – so far, a conservative estimate of her surviving work totals c.25,000 glass plates, prints, lantern slides and negatives. This talk will discuss Willmott’s life and work, focusing on her journey to join the Linnean Society and the ramifications of her Fellowship.
Journalist and historian Sandra Lawrence, MRes, has spent the past eight years recovering Miss Willmott's lost archive from the basement of a stately home in Worcestershire. Thousands of letters, diaries, receipts, bills and photographs, mostly in poor condition, have enabled her to reconsider the life, work and legacy of Ellen Willmott, resulting in a new biography, Miss Willmott’s Ghosts, published in 2022. The recovery work on Willmott’s papers is ongoing.
This talk is online and Zoom login details will be sent out two hours before the event start time.
Other Events: To hear about our other events, subscribe to Linnean News.