Kate's Photo Diary
183_2146 Maiden Memorial Pavilion
MAIDEN, JOSEPH HENRY (1859-1925), botanist and public servant, was born on 25 April 1859 at St John's Wood, London, eldest son of Henry Maiden, china dealer and later accountant, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, née Wells. He was educated at the City of London Middle Class School where he excelled in scientific subjects, was taught chemistry by Professor F. Barff and even while at school acted as his assistant. Ill health prevented his accepting a scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge, and completing a science degree at the University of London, led him in 1880 to sail for Sydney.
Interested in Australian flora and helped by the director of the Botanic Gardens Charles Moore and by Rev. William Woolls, Maiden quickly established himself as an expert in economic botany and encouraged research into the properties of Australian timbers and essential oils. He began writing on botanical subjects in 1887 and in 1889 published The Useful Native Plants of Australia. A smaller work, Wattles and Wattle-Barks, followed next year. In 1890 he was indignant when passed over for the position of botanist in the new Department of Agriculture. Next year he was appointed consulting botanist to the department's forestry division. Early in 1894 he became superintendent of technical education and in May 1896 director of the Botanic Gardens and government botanist.
Maiden retired in 1924 and moved to Turramurra. He had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis following an accident while collecting in 1911, but he continued to work at a prodigious rate and his wit still sparkled. He was an active Anglican. He died of heart disease on 16 November 1925 at Turramurra and was buried in St John's Anglican cemetery, Gordon. His wife and four daughters survived him; his only son had been lost at sea twenty years earlier. Funds were collected to erect a memorial pavilion in the Botanic Gardens. His portrait (1916) by Norman Carter is held by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
For more details see:
adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100375b.htm
183_2146 Maiden Memorial Pavilion
MAIDEN, JOSEPH HENRY (1859-1925), botanist and public servant, was born on 25 April 1859 at St John's Wood, London, eldest son of Henry Maiden, china dealer and later accountant, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, née Wells. He was educated at the City of London Middle Class School where he excelled in scientific subjects, was taught chemistry by Professor F. Barff and even while at school acted as his assistant. Ill health prevented his accepting a scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge, and completing a science degree at the University of London, led him in 1880 to sail for Sydney.
Interested in Australian flora and helped by the director of the Botanic Gardens Charles Moore and by Rev. William Woolls, Maiden quickly established himself as an expert in economic botany and encouraged research into the properties of Australian timbers and essential oils. He began writing on botanical subjects in 1887 and in 1889 published The Useful Native Plants of Australia. A smaller work, Wattles and Wattle-Barks, followed next year. In 1890 he was indignant when passed over for the position of botanist in the new Department of Agriculture. Next year he was appointed consulting botanist to the department's forestry division. Early in 1894 he became superintendent of technical education and in May 1896 director of the Botanic Gardens and government botanist.
Maiden retired in 1924 and moved to Turramurra. He had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis following an accident while collecting in 1911, but he continued to work at a prodigious rate and his wit still sparkled. He was an active Anglican. He died of heart disease on 16 November 1925 at Turramurra and was buried in St John's Anglican cemetery, Gordon. His wife and four daughters survived him; his only son had been lost at sea twenty years earlier. Funds were collected to erect a memorial pavilion in the Botanic Gardens. His portrait (1916) by Norman Carter is held by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
For more details see:
adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100375b.htm