The Plant House University Botanic Garden

Cambridge University Botanic Garden

History of Cambridge Botanic Garden

General information about the Cambridge University Botanic Garden can be found on Wikipedia.

The Garden’s own web site is:

http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/Botanic/Home.aspx

An unusual feature is The Brick Tree. This is a pear tree which after a storm in the 1960s was filled up with tar-covered bricks to stop the tree from rotting. (See 111  Places in Cambridge You Shouldn’t Miss  p.38).

A B Gray noted in 1921 that the gates, erected in May 1909, were originally those of the old Physic Garden in Downing Street.

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1901 census: University Botanic gardens Bateman Street

Richard Irwin Lynch

Harriet

Edith K, 16, b Cambridge

Richard S, 12, b Cambridge

Elizabeth R Revell, 22, servant, b Cambs

Gardeners House University Botanic Gardens:

Edgar John Allard, 24, foreman Botanic gardens, b Kent

Herbert Sutcliffe, boarder, 19, journeyman gardener, b Yorks

Sidney G Wild, 23, journeyman gardener, b Warwicks

William N Wright, 24, traveller horticultural specialist, b Derby

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1911 census:

Richard Irwin-Lynch, 60, curator Botanic Gardens, b Cornwall

Harriett, 53, b Devon

Rhoda May Elvin, servant, 18, servant, b Cambridge

John William Temple, head, 23, gardener, b Herts

Alfred Bertram Mellis, boarder, 20, b Stowmarket

Harold Allgood, 16, boarder,  b Trumpington

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1921 The Bothy

Ralph Edwin Thoday, 26, gardener Univ Botanic Gardens, b Brampton

Leonard Cranfield, lodger, 30, gardener Univ Botanic Gardens, b Cambridge

George Hill, lodger, 20, gardener Univ Botanic Gardens, b Babraham

The article “Ralph Edwin Thoday: his horticultural achievements and the rediscovery of the Thoday’s Quarrendon Apple” can be found in CAS Vol CXIV 2025.

Thoday was born at Huntingdon, son of a gardener and grandson of a farmer from Reed Farm, Willingham. One of his relations established Thoday’s Seeds. Another Thoday ran an extensive vinery opposite Willingham village school. He trained and worked as a gardner in several counties before serving as a sergeant in the RAMeC in WWI. In 1920 he joined the staff of the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge.

After three years he move to Kent to gain experience of fruit growing. He then became an instructor at the Lord Wandsworth Agricultural College in Hampshire.

In 1928 he was appointed Head Gardener of the Kitchen Garden of St John’s College, Cambridge. This was situated at 18 Madingley Road.

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22/7/1922 The prospect of a serious deficiency at the Botanic Garden is almost a certainty; it is expected to be about £1,362. A suggestion has been made that the public should be charged a small fee for admission, but there is a natural objection to adopting this course, the garden having been open so long and so extensively used by the public. A suggested alternative is that the garden should close at 5.30. A further proposal is that the principal greenhouses should be closed and their contents sold. Something will have to be done. The Garden practically ranks as a public park. We are in danger of losing that park (Cambridge Press)

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2022 Painting by Hannah Davies