George Ure Skinner ( 1804 - 1867 )

By 1834 The " Orchidomania " in England was widespread . The countries of the new world being combed for their orchid treasures and thousands of plants were being shipped to the Continent . The little known Republic of Guatemala was at that time an unwrought time mine of natural history; therefore , whatever was sent to Europe from there was almost sure to be new . George Ure Skinner , an English merchant residing there, became famous for his collections.

George Ure skinner was born on 18 March 1804 , the second son of the Very Rev. John Skinner , dean of Dunkeld and Dunblane. His grandfather was the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church and bishop of Aberdeen and his great-grandfather was a well-known ecclesiastical historian of Scotland and one of the best Hebrew and Latin scholars of his era . With such a heritage of scholarly forebears , it is rather curious that young Skinner did not follow the academic trail. His inclinations were entirely different .

As a child he was ardent nature lover and in early youth was bent on joining the navy. His father had other plans for him , however, and in deference to his father's wishes he became a clerk in the banking house of Barclay ,Bevan &Co., of London. He subsequently removed himself to Leeds ,where he entered business as a general merchant . Leeds did not hold him long, though.

In 1831 there occured an oppertunity for trade relations with the Republic of Guatemala , and Skinner at once accepted and set sail for that country. There it was that he entered into partnership with Mr. McKlee, and thus the well-known mercantile house of Klee,Skinner ,&Co., of Guatemala came into being.

Skinner had not been in Guatemala long when he became deeply impressed with its vast resources , nearly all of which were allowed to go to waste in the unsettled condition of the country . With great resourcefulness he undertook the extensive cultivation of indigo and cochineal ,which later numbered among the staple exports of the republic . Other projects followed , but incursions by savage Indian hordes hampered their development , and Skinner often found it necessary to bear arms aganist the invaders .

In 1834 he still had not even heard of orchids. He was however , much interested in the birds and insects of Guatemala and spent considerable time in collecting them. One of the shipments of specimens to the Museum of Natural History at Manchester , England , attracted the attention of James Bateman , then a horticultural student at Oxford.Bateman was , of course ,eager to seize the first chance of obtaining botanical material from a relatively untouched area , and so he wrote to Skinner ,explaining by means of descriptions and sketches the sort of plants orchids were, hoping to interest the man in searching for them. The day Mr. Bateman's letter arrived ,Skinner later repeated many times over, was as it were a birthday , for it gave a fresh interest to his life which lasted to the end of his days . Though untrained in botany, he soon recognized the orchids which were described in Bateman's letter and began collecting at once. At the earliest oppertunity he sent a box of carefully packed plants to Bateman , all of which were new to England. Among the shipment were plants of Barkeria skinneri (which Bateman asked Dr. Lindley to name after its discoverer), Epidendrum aromaticum ,Catleya aurantiaca, Oncidium cavendishianum, Oncidium leucochilum, and Odontoglossum bictoniense -the latter being the first of the genus to reach England alive.

When Skinner heard of the success of his Shipment , he was extremely pleased ,and thereafter it rarely occurred that a mail shipment left Guatemala without a letter from Skinner announcing some new discovery of seeking the orchid news of England , particularly as permited to the plants introduced by himself.

The list of Skinner's orchid introductions is lengthy , nearly 100 species . Besides those mentioned ,he was first to find Odontoglossum grande (his favorite orchid), Odontoglossum uro-skinneri, Odontoglossum rubescens , Odontoglossum pulchellum , Schomburgkia tibicinis,Epidendrum stamfordianum , Epidendrum alatum , Cattleya skinneri, Stanhopea saccata , Cycnoches ventricosum and egertonianum , Laelia superbiens , Epidendrum cnemidophorum , Lycaste skinneri (later changed to Lycaste virginalis ), and many more. Though the orchids were his favourite plants ,he did not neglect other botanical tribes , as is shown by names such as Aquilegia skinneri and Uro-skinnera specios , names given by Lindley to other of Skinner's introductions . In the Orchid Family his name is further commemorated by Mormodes skinneri, and Epidendrum skinneri.

His contributions to ornithology were also considerable ,with not less than twenty species of birds sent to British museums for the first time .Skinner was ever ready to give his services to science and natural history and was happy to lend a helping hand to any traveler or naturalist who came hsi way. He heartily rejoiced at the successes of others as much as if they had been his own , and thus assisted Mr.O.Salvin , one of England's most eminent ornithologists , in his earliest Guatemalan wanderings . Through him,Captian Dow,of the American Packet service ,and many others ,were first led to study and love nature . In kindness to his friend James Bateman , in 1860 he took that gentleman's eldest son under his care and the body returned with him to Guatemala following one of Skinner's visits to England .

During the period when orchids were at a peak of popularity and interest in England ,the orchid sales at Steven's Auction Rooms were originated by Skinner . When in England , he might always be found there sorting , arranging , and cataloguing cargoes of imported orchids. To him the work was a labor of love, and he was as willing to do it in behalf of a stranger as much as for himself -always , however , claiming a few specimens as prerequisites , which he presented gifts to his friends.At his disposal were extensive collections made by Warszewicz in Peru and Veragua in New Grenada , but as these were all " cool" orchids and looked upon as unmanageable , most of them were given away.

At the Veitch Exotic Nursery in Chelsea , a glass house for the accomodation of his own importations was generously placed at his disposal , and he could often be found there on visits to England. The whole Veitch establishment fascinated him , and the Veitch family was especially close to his heart .

Having worked hard all his life , he at length resolved to retire from business , putting his thirty-five years of collecting behind and settling for the remainder of his life in his native land . A widower for many years and then past sixty years of age, he looked forward to joining his two daughters and aged mother who had for some time resided with the Rev.James Skinner at Newland , near Malvern ,England . With this in mind he sailed from England to Gratemala on 2 December 1866 with the intension of winding up his affairs and then returning to England in the fall of the next year. Had he been able to carry out these plans, he would have crossed the Atlantic Ocean forty times .Fate decreed otherwise however . He reached Colon the first week of January 1867 and crossed by rail to Panama . Finding that the first ship leaving that port for the Pacific was overcrowded , he decided to wait for a week until the arrival of the next vessel. In the meantime he set about collecting plants and birds with his usual enthusiasm . On Sunday of that week he returned to Colon for church services, dining in the evening on board the Danube. There , it is presumed, he contracted yellow fever, for on Monday he felt uncomfortable ; on Tuesday he was gravely ill ; and on Wednesday , 9 January ,he died.

His last letter-written in high spirits and full of plant gossip-was to his old friend Mr. Veitch . It was written on the fourth ,with a postscript added on the sixth . The mail that bore it home also carried the sad and unexpected tiding of his death.

References

Ames , Oakes , and Correll , Donovana S. 1952. Orchids of Guatemala .Fieldiana : Botany 26 ,no.1 .Chicago Natural History Museum .

Gardeners' Chronicle . 1867. The late Mr. G. Ure Skinner. No. 8.