Gregson, Jesse (1837–1919)

Born in Kent, England, on 4 August 1837 and died at Leura, N.S.W., on 3 August 1919.  

He arrived in Australia in 1856 and took a position on Cassilis Station in Queensland, but later became a partner in Mount Rainsworth Station and managed it for 12 years.  In 1875 he became Assistant Superintendent and shortly afterwards Superintendent of the Australian Agricultural Company, holding the latter position until 1905.

Shortly after Gregson was appointed to the position of Superintendent (1876), he bought a small holiday property at Mt Wilson, in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales.  He had been keenly interested in botany from the time of his arrival in Australia and made a detailed and careful collection of plants, especially in the Mt Wilson area, which has a rich basaltic soil and a high rainfall.  He was particularly interested in eucalypts and the specimens he collected were sent to the National Herbarium in Sydney.  This led to a friendship with J. H. Maiden and to the latter accompanying Gregson on collecting excursions.  All his botanical specimens are at the Herbarium.

Jesse Gregson is honoured in the names of the following taxa:
Blechnum capense var. gregsonii Watts (1915)
Cryptocarya gregsonii Maiden (1902)
Eucalyptus gregsoniana L.A.S.Johnson & Blaxell (1973) (jointly with his son, Edward Jesse)

Sources:
Hall, N. (1978) Botanists of the eucalypts. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Melbourne
Maiden, J.H. (1903). On a new Cryptocarya from Lord Howe Island, together with notes on other plants from that island. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 27(4): 347–351
Watts, W.W. (1915). Some notes on Blechnum capense, (L.) Schlecht. (with description of var. Gregsoni, var. nov.). Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 49(3): 122–126.

Collecting localities for 'Gregson, J.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 416 specimens