Davidson, John Ewen   (1841–1923)

Born on 2 March 1841 in London, UK; died on 2 September 1923 in Oxford, UK.

He was educated at Harrow School and Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1862.

After a trip to the West Indies and British Guiana he came to Australia in 1865.

He began as a sugar planter at Bellenden Plains on the Murray River north of Cardwell in Far North Queensland. After his plantation at Bellenden Plains was destroyed by a flood in late 1866, Davidson sold out of the area. He relocated south to Mackay, Qld, in 1867 and set up the cotton and sugar plantation 'Alexandra' together with Thomas Henry Fitzgerald. He investigated new varieties of sugar cane and methods of production and visited many other areas in the world over his career. Building the first iron mill in the district in 1868, they proved sugar commercially viable.

Around 1900, he retired to England with his family, dying at his home in Oxford in 1923.

Although there appear to be no records in the Australasian Virtual Herbarium of specimens collected by J.E.Davidson, he is of interest for having the genus Davidsonia named in his honour by Ferdinand von Mueller. In the original description for the genus, Mueller (1867) wrote in Latin:

"Generi tam ad Spiraeopsidem quam ad Gumilleam accedenti assigno nomen praeclari cultivatoris Davidson, qui primus in loco detectionis plantationes sacchari extensas paravit."

"To the genus, which is related to both Spiraeopsis and Gumillea, I assign the name of the illustrious cultivator Davidson, who was the first to prepare extensive sugar plantations at the place of its discovery."

Sources:
Mills, J.A. (1981) 'Davidson, John Ewen (1841–1923)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Available online at https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davidson-john-ewen-5902/text10051
Mueller, F.J.H. von (1867), Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 6(41): p. 4. Available online via the Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/764742
Wikipedia entry, 'John Ewen Davidson'. Available online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ewen_Davidson

Portrait Photo: 'John Ewen Davidson, in retirement in England'. Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Negative number: 11080, available online at https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/56710