John Bellenden Ker (r.) as child with his brother Henry Gawler (painted by Henry Bone)Pitcairnia integrifolia, one of many plants named by Bellenden Ker
John Bellenden Ker, originally John Gawler, was an English botanist born about 1764 in Ramridge, Andover, Hampshire and died in June 1842 in the same town. On 5 November 1804 he changed his name to Ker Bellenden, but continued to sign his name as Bellenden Ker until his death. He was an unsuccessful claimant to the Roxburghe dukedom.[1] His son was the legal reformer Charles Henry Bellenden Ker.
He is noted for having written Recensio Plantarum (1801), Select Orchideae (c. 1816) and Iridearum Genera (1827). He contributed to Curtis's Botanical Magazine under John Sims, using the initial G.[2] He edited Edward's Botanical Register from 1815 to 1824 and was famous as a wit and botanist as well as being the author of Archaeology of Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes (1837).[3] The 2nd volume of this work was published in 1840.[4]Robert Brown (1773–1858) named the genus Bellendena of the Proteaceae in his honour in 1810. The state of Queensland in Australia has named its second highest peak Mount Bellenden Ker. The Bellenden Ker Range in the same area was also named after him.
His work on English nursery rhymes argued in four volumes that they were actually written in "Low Saxon", a hypothetical early form of Dutch. He then "translated" them back into English, revealing particularly a strong tendency to anti-clericalism.[5]
Ray Desmond (1994). Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists including Plant Collectors, Flower Painters and Garden Designers. Taylor & Francis and The Natural History Museum (London).
The Duke of Roxburghe is a title in the peerage of Scotland created in 1707 along with the titles Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford, Earl of Kelso and Viscount Broxmouth. John Ker, 5th Earl of Roxburghe became the first holder of these titles. The title is derived from the royal burgh of Roxburgh in the Scottish Borders that in 1460 the Scots captured and destroyed.
John Mitchell Kemble, English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor and Maria Theresa Kemble. He is known for his major contribution to the history of the Anglo-Saxons and philology of the Old English language, including one of the first translations of Beowulf.
John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe, KG, KT, PC was a Scottish nobleman and bibliophile.
Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe was a Scottish nobleman.
John Forbes Royle, British botanist and teacher of materia medica, was born in Kanpur in 1798. He was in charge of the botanical garden at Saharanpur and played a role in the development of economic botany in India.
William Ker, 2nd Earl of Roxburghe PC was a Scottish nobleman who inherited his title from his maternal grandfather, Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe.
James Innes-Ker, 5th Duke of Roxburghe was a Scottish nobleman.
Frederick Manson Bailey was a botanist active in Australia, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of Queensland.
George Johnston was a Scottish physician and naturalist.
Lilium pensylvanicum is an Asian plant species of the family Liliaceae. Sometimes called the Siberian lily, it is native to a cold climate and needs frost in the winter. It is found in the wild form in Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, northeast China, Korea and Hokkaidō.
William Bellenden, Lord Bellenden PC, was Treasurer-depute of Scotland.
"The Cat Sat Asleep by the Side of the Fire" is an English nursery rhyme.
David Moore was a Scottish botanist who served as director of the Irish National Botanic Gardens for over 40 years.
Charles Henry Bellenden Ker (c.1785–1871) was an English barrister and legal reformer.
William Barnard Clarke (1806–1865), sometimes mis-written Bernard, was an English architect, cartographer, archaeological writer and art collector, numismatist and literary translator. He was the founding president of the Architectural Society of London, 1831, and supervised the restoration of the Eleanor Cross at Waltham Cross in 1831–1832. Producing a celebrated series of maps or plans of European and Russian cities, and taking a strong interest in the discoveries at Pompeii, he travelled much in Europe and from the 1840s had his home and collections in the Grand Duchy of Baden. In 1865 he published an English translation of Goethe's Faust. He was an elder brother of the artist Harriet Ludlow Clarke, and a brother-in-law of Henry Bellenden Ker.
George Luxford was an English botanist, printer and journalist.
"Hark, Hark! The Dogs Do Bark" is an English nursery rhyme. Its origins are uncertain and researchers have attributed it to various dates ranging from the late 11th century to the early 18th century. The earliest known printings of the rhyme are from the late 18th century, but a related rhyme was written down a century earlier than that.
Robert Ker, 3rd Earl of Roxburghe PC was a Scottish nobleman.
John Bellenden, 2nd Lord Bellenden was a Scottish nobleman.
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