Drummond, James (1786 - 1863)

Although James Drummond's date and place of birth have usually been given as c. 1784 at Hawthornden, Scotland, we now know that he was born late in 1786, probably on the Fotheringham estate at Inverarity near Forfar in the county of Angus, Scotland. Local parochial records give the date of James’s baptism as 8 January 1787, and apparently it was customary to baptise children when they were little more than a few weeks old (AG).

He was Curator of the Cork Botanical Gardens, Ireland, 1809-1828. Emigrated with his family to the Swan River Colony, Western Australia, in 1829, and earned part of his living by selling plant collections to overseas botanists, notably William Hooker (K) and John Lindley (CGE). His collections are now to be found in about 25 herbaria (including DBN, G, MANCH, OXF, P), the largest holdings being in K and MEL. A very large number of species from south-western Western Australia are described from his collections, with 119 being named after him. His private collection was acquired by gift or purchase by MEL from his son after his death, and other duplicates were acquired by MEL with the purchase of the Steetz and Sonder herbaria. In 1917 duplicates of the MEL Drummond collections were sent to PERTH.

* (Although James Drummond's date and place of birth have usually been given as c. 1784 at Hawthornden, Scotland, we now know that he was born late in 1786, probably on the Fotheringham estate at Inverarity near Forfar in the county of Angus, Scotland. Local parochial records give the date of James’s baptism as 8 January 1787, and apparently it was customary to baptise children when they were little more than a few weeks old.
This was discussed by Charles Nelson in a paper titled ‘James and Thomas Drummond: their Scottish origins and curatorships in Irish botanic gardens (ca 1808–ca 1831)’, Archives of Natural History 17: 49–65 (1990).
Hawthornden was the Drummond family seat, located just south of Edinburgh in the county of Midlothian.)

References:

Nelson, Charles (1990) ‘James and Thomas Drummond: their Scottish origins and curatorships in Irish botanic gardens (ca 1808–ca 1831)’, Archives of Natural History 17: 49–65 .

George, Alex (2007) 'Australian Systematic Botany Newsletter' 131/132 p. 4

Source:Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references];
Alex George, email, 15 Dec 2010

Botanist Dr William Harvey visited the Swan River Colony and in his memoirs referred to Drummond:

"On the 19th [April 1854] Mr Drummond ... arrived, having come upwards of forty miles to have a chat with me, and to ask me to visit him in the country .. He is a venerable looking man, with snow-white hair and long beard, square-built frame and ruddy features, and an intelligent eye, that lights up with enthusiasm when on his favourite subject. His habit for years has been to traverse the country in the collecting season, with his three ponies and one or two natives, and to live for months together in the bush, shifting his quarters as he exhausts each neighbourhood."

Source:Extracted from: Short, P. 'In Pursuit of Plants', UWA Press, 2003
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