Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865) was an eminent British botanist who is best known for expanding and developing the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew into a leading centre of botanic research and conservation. After undertaking botanical expeditions to Iceland and across Europe, he was appointed Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University in 1820, where he proved to be a popular lecturer and established the Royal Botanical Institution of Glasgow. In 1841 Hooker was appointed the first Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, a position he held until his death. This volume, written by his son, the equally renowned botanist Sir Joseph Hooker (1817–1911) and first published in 1903, provides an intimate biography of his life. Hooker's botanic expeditions, his experiences at Glasgow, and relations between leading members of the scientific community are recounted, together with vivid descriptions of his labours and improvements at Kew.
