Pescott, Richard Thomas Martin (Dick)   (1905 - 1986)

Born on 21 August 1905 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; died: 22 February 1986 in Melbourne.

He graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1929 with a Master of Agricultural Science degree.

He was entomologist to the Victorian Department of Agriculture for fifteen years, and as one of the Department's expert staft, he taught at the School of Primary Agriculture and Horticulture, Burnley.

He was appointed to the position of Director of the National Museum of Victoria from 1944 to 1957.

He became the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, in 1957, following a succession of former Burnley principals: John Cronon, Frederick Rae, and Alexander Jessop. (Dick's uncle, E.E. Pescott, had also been a principal at the Burnley school).

When Dick Pescott took over, his role as Director of the Gardens was to continue the maintenance program needed to retain William Guifoile's concept of the Gardens, adding new local and overseas material to the plant collections as it became available.

He retired as director in 1970 and undertook historical research to prepare two major books: a biography of Guilfoyle (1974) and a history of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne (1982).

Source: Extracted from:
Lee Andrews in Aitken & Looker (eds.) 'The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens', 2002, Melbourne. Portrait Photo: https://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/umfs/biogs/UMFS170b.htm .

Collecting localities for 'Pescott, R.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 78 specimens