Margaret Lawder

Last updated

Margaret Lawder Wilkinson
Born
Margaret Lawder Wilkinson

(1899-07-18)18 July 1899 [1]
Hillside, Yatton, Somerset, England [2]
Died16 November 1982(1982-11-16) (aged 83) [3] [4]
Paarl, South Africa [5] [6]
Known forConservation and collection of plants for Kirstenbosch
Spouse(s)Eric Stephen Dumsday; Edward Francis Lawder

Margaret Lawder (1899-1982), born Margaret Lawder Wilkinson, was a British and South African botanist known for her conservation work. She was daughter of Charles Ernest Orde Wilkinson and Edith Mary Lawder. [7] In 1922, at the age of 22, she emigrated from Ireland to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, as a social worker. [8] Margaret first married Eric Stephen Dumsday on 20 April 1926, having two daughters and a son; later divorcing in 1952. [9]

Secondly she married Commander Edward Francis Lawder R.N., as his third wife, and they became official plant collectors for the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town. Edward took pictures of the flowers and Margaret wrote the descriptions of them.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden (April 2013) Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.JPG
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden (April 2013)

They contributed articles to the Journal of the Botanical Society both before and after it became Veld & Flora. [10] [11] [12] They also contributed articles about Cape plants to other South African and international journals. [13] Margaret had a regular gardening column in the Cape Times newspaper and the magazine, Farmers Weekly. She was responsible for the slogan "Conservation through Cultivation". [14]

Margaret Lawder bought Leliefontein farm in the Klein Drakenstein area in 1946. [10] [15] [16] She introduced the cultivation of Watsonia marginata, a plant endemic to Leliefontein farm. [10]

Watsonia marginata Watsonia marginata 01.jpg
Watsonia marginata

She was one of the founding members of the Paarl Beautifying Society in 1931 when the area was overrun with alien vegetation. They established an indigenous garden in a section of the Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve, known as Meulwater Wild Flower Reserve. [10] [17] She was also a founding member and the first president of the Country Garden Club in the Paarl district, which post she held for seven years. [10] [18]

Margaret was also involved in the foundation of Maitland Cottage Homes. This organisation cares for children who have to spend months in plaster casts, but who cannot stay at home. [19] She was also involved in the first birth control clinic in the Cape Peninsula. [20]

She was actively involved in botany until her death in 1982. [21] [22] [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden</span> Botanical garden at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town

Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Prior to 1 September 2004, the institute was known as the National Botanical Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter MacOwan</span> British botanist (1830-1909)

Peter MacOwan was a British colonial botanist and teacher in South Africa.

Robert Harold Compton was a South African botanist. The Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which he founded in Cape Town in 1939, was named in his honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Harold Welch Pearson</span> British-born South African botanist (1870—1916)

Henry Harold Welch Pearson was a British-born South African botanist, chiefly remembered for founding Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in 1913.

Thomas Clinton, 3rd Earl of Lincoln, was an English peer, styled Lord Clinton from 1585 to 1616.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisa Bolus</span> South African botanist (1877–1970)

Harriet Margaret Louisa BolusnéeKensit was a South African botanist and taxonomist, and the longtime curator of the Bolus Herbarium, from 1903. Bolus also has the legacy of authoring more land plant species than any other female scientist, in total naming 1,494 species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysen</span>

Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysen was a South African botanist. She was described as "the most outstanding collector ever of South African flora", amassing 36,000 herbarium specimens.

<i>Encephalartos caffer</i> Species of cycad

Encephalartos caffer, the Eastern Cape dwarf cycad, is a rare cycad from the genus Encephalartos. It typically has an underground stem, with a small portion on top, the stem is only very rarely branched and may be as much as 40 cm long. Emerging from the top are long, pinnate, dark green leaves up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) long. These often have a distinctive ruffled, feathery appearance, caused by the numerous, clustered leaflets being irregularly twisted from the central stalk and pointing out in different directions. New leaves are brown and woolly at first but most of the hair is lost as they mature, although they never become completely smooth or glossy. Both male and female plants bear single reproductive cones made up of a series of spiraled scales, which become greenish-yellow when mature. In the female, two largish, glossy, scarlet-coloured seeds are formed on top of each cone scale.

William Holmes Borders Sr. was an American civil rights activist and leader and pastor of Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia from 1937 to 1988.

Eileen May McCracken was an Irish botanist, geographer and historian of botany. She also wrote on the history of Irish Gardens.

Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of Lincoln, formerly Elizabeth Knyvet(t), was an English noblewoman and writer. She was Countess of Lincoln from 1616 until the death of her husband Thomas Clinton, 3rd Earl of Lincoln, in 1619, then Dowager Countess. Her pamphlet on child-raising, The Countess of Lincoln's Nursery, gained praise.

Gwendoline Joyce Lewis (1909–1967) was a South African botanist.

Graham Dugald Duncan(born 1959) is a South African botanist and specialist bulb horticulturalist at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa.

<i>Coleus neochilus</i> Species of flowering plant

Coleus neochilus, synonym Plectranthus neochilus, which is colloquially known as lobster bush, fly bush or mosquito bush, is a perennial ground cover with highly fragrant, partially scalloped, ovate leaves and purple blue inflorescent spikes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Hall (botanist)</span> Botanist (1906-1986)

Harry Hall, was a British-born horticulturist, botanist and succulent plant authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Patrick Rourke</span> (b.1942) South African botanist

John Patrick Rourke FMLS is a South African botanist, who worked at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and became curator of the Compton Herbarium. He is a specialist in the flora of the Cape Floristic Region, in particular the family Proteaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Frances Mary Struben</span> South African painter (1868–1936)

Edith Struben was a South African botanical illustrator and painter. She was the eldest daughter of Harry Struben, a pioneer gold miner on the Witwatersrand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph William Mathews</span>

Joseph William "Jimmy" Mathews was a horticulturist and gardener from England who served as the first curator of the Kirstenbosch national botanical garden in Cape Town, South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dierdré A. Snijman</span> South African botanist

Dierdré "Dee" Anne Snijman is a South African botanist and plant taxonomist who is notable for studying and writing extensively on bulbs. She has described over 120 species and has written comprehensive works on South African flora. She received the 1997 Herbert Medal from the International Bulb Society for her research on Amaryllis.

Winsome Fanny Barker was a South African botanist and plant collector noted for her work as Curator building the collection at the herbarium of the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, as well as her research on Amaryllidaceae, Liliaceae and Haemodoraceae.

References

  1. ↑ England, Somerset, Church Records, 1501-1999, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6D9D-DKVS
  2. ↑ England, Somerset, Church Records, 1501-1999, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6D9D-DKVS
  3. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  4. ↑ Die Burger Newspaper, Media 24, Margaret Lawder obituary, "Plantekenner sterf in Paarl", November 1982
  5. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  6. ↑ Die Burger Newspaper, Media 24, Margaret Lawder obituary, "Plantekenner sterf in Paarl", November 1982
  7. ↑ England, Somerset, Church Records, 1501-1999, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6D9D-DKVS
  8. ↑ Die Burger Newspaper, Media 24, Margaret Lawder obituary, "Plantekenner sterf in Paarl", November 1982
  9. ↑ Oldfield, Paul (30 August 2016). Victoria Crosses on the Western Front - Somme 1916: 1st July 1916 to 13th November 1916. Pen and Sword Military. p. 484.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Obituary: Margaret Lawder". Veld and Flora. 69 (3): 126. September 1983. ISSN   0042-3203 . Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  11. ↑ Lawder, Margaret (January 1966). "The Farmer and the Flora". Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa. 52 (1): 26. ISSN   0042-3203 . Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  12. ↑ Lawder, Margaret (1967). "Sowing and Growing at Kirstenbosch". Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa. 53 (1): 31.
  13. ↑ Lawder, Margaret (March 1973). "Seeds from South Africa". The National Cactus and Succulent Journal of the British Cactus and Succulent Society. 28 (1): 21.
  14. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  15. ↑ "Work in Progress". Quarterly Newsletter. Garden History Society. 4 (4): 14–16. Spring 1967. JSTOR   1586179.
  16. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  17. ↑ Watkins, Karen (20 June 2011). "Diamond of Paarl". iol.co.za. Independent On-line. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  18. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  19. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  20. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper, Margaret Lawder's obituary, November 1982
  21. ↑ Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Harvey, Joy Dorothy (1 January 2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9780415920407 . Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  22. ↑ Paarl Post Newspaper
  23. ↑ Die Burger Newspaper, Media 24</ref, November 1982
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.