---
title: "William Jackson Hooker"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jackson_Hooker"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:06:29.967042+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

His years at Glasgow were his most productive, when he was known as the most active botanist in the country. In 1821 he brought out the Flora Scotica, written to be used by his botany students. He was awarded a doctorate by Glasgow University in 1821.  He worked with the lithographer and botanist Thomas Hopkirk to establish the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow and to lay out and develop the Botanic Gardens.  He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1823.
Under Hooker, the Botanic Gardens enjoyed remarkable success and became prominent in the botanic world. The garden was his responsibility and he set to work developing it with the help of his extensive network of friends and acquaintances. Principal among these was Sir Joseph Banks, who promised Kew's help. The botanic gardens steadily acquired new plants, often from visiting naturalists, or from students who had travelled. His work on the botanic garden resulted in experts expressing the view that "Glasgow would not suffer by comparison with any other establishment in Europe".
During his professorship at Glasgow, his numerous published works included Flora Londinensis, British Flora, Flora Boreali-Americana, Icones Filicum, The Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage to the Bering Sea, Icones Plantarum, Exotic Flora (1823–27), 13 volumes of Curtis's Botanical Magazine (from 1827), and the first seven volumes of Annals of Botany. Mount Hooker, between Alberta and British Columbia, was named for him in 1827 by David Douglas.
In 1836, Hooker was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order and a Knight Bachelor in recognition of his work at Glasgow and his services to botany. Although officially recognised in this way, he became increasingly disillusioned with how his work was viewed by the University authorities, and by 1839 was feeling as if the "dignity of the position was stripped to one of ridicule and his work was dismissed as of no account".
During his time in Glasgow, he lived, for several summers, at Invereck at the head of the Holy Loch. "He seems to have devoted special attention to the vegetation of the neighbourhood," wrote John Colegate in 1868. "The result of his inquiries were published in the Rev. Dr. McKay's Statistical Account of the United Parishes of Dunoon and Kilmun."

=== Director of Kew Gardens ===

The origins of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew can be traced to the merging of the royal estates of Richmond and Kew in 1772, when the garden at Kew Park formed by Henry, Lord Capell of Tewkesbury was enlarged by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales. The gardens were developed by the architect William Chambers, who built the pagoda in 1761, and by George III, who was aided by William Aiton and Sir Joseph Banks.  The Dutch House, now known as Kew Palace, was purchased by George III in 1781 for his children. The adjoining White House was demolished in 1802. The plant collections at Kew were first enlarged systematically by Francis Masson in 1771, but had since the death of George III slowly declined. In 1838, a Parliamentary review of the nation's royal gardens recommended the development of Kew as a national botanical garden.

In April 1841 Hooker was appointed as the Garden's first full time Director, on the resignation of William Townsend Aiton. Following his appointment as director, a position he had long wished for, he wrote "I feel as if I were to begin life over again", in a letter to Dawson Turner. He started on an annual salary of £300, with an additional allowance of £200. To Allan, who described Hooker as a man with "drive, enthusiasm and creative ability", he was eminently suited for the post, being a professional botanist, an artist, a leader with connections to others in the botanical world, who was knowledgeable about plants from Britain and those collected from around the world. The curator of Kew Gardens during Hooker's period as Director was the experienced and knowledgeable botanist John Smith (1798–1888).
Under Hooker's direction the gardens expanded considerably in size. Initially about 11 acres (4.5 ha) in size, they were extended to 15 acres (6.1 ha) in 1841. An arboretum of 270 acres (1.1 km2) was introduced, many new glass-houses were erected, and a museum of economic botany was established. In 1843 the Palm House, to a design by the architect Decimus Burton and the iron founder Richard Turner, was constructed at Kew. The gardens and glasshouses were opened daily to the visiting public, who were allowed to wander freely there for the first time. Sir William himself wandered around during opening hours, lending his advice.
He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1862.
Hooker lived with his family at West Park, a large house in which he accommodated 13 rooms of books in his library, which was seen as a public institution by the world's botanical experts, who were never turned away. Among his visitors were Queen Victoria, her husband Prince Albert and their children; during 1865—the year Hooker died—the attendance had risen to 529,241.
Under Hooker's direction Kew became the centre of an emerging interconnected worldwide network of botanical expertise, and staff recommended by him joined expeditions or worked for botanical gardens around the world. He was invariably consulted when government questions arose about botanical matters. Newly propagated plants and sent from Kew to private and public gardens in Britain, and to botanical gardens overseas, in some cases to be developed as crops.

=== Marriage and family ===