Henry Nicholas Ridley ( 1855 - 1956 )

Borneo and the Malay Peninsula had given up an enormous treauary of new and worthwhile plant materials by the latter part of the centuary , orchids being prominent among them. Through the efforts and introductions of plant collectors such as Sir Hugh Low ,Charles Curtis , and David Burke , the botanic gardens and herbaria of Europe had been greatly enriched , but the end result -a complete flora of the era -remained to be done . This was accomplished by Henry Nicholas Ridley , a British botanist of exceptional capability . His orchid introductions , over 200 new species , seem almost incidental to his many other introductions over 200 new species ,seem almost incidental to his many other accomplishments in agriculture , zoology , horticulture, and other fields; a man of great versatility and seemingly unlimited energy , he became well known in all his fields of endeavor.

Son of the Rev. Oliver Matthew Ridley ,he was born on 10 December 1855, at West Harling , Norfolk , England . An intense interest in nature , especially birds and insects ,was evident even in his boyhood , and while still at school he wrote his first published paper on those subjects . At Exeter College ,Oxford , he gained second-class honors in natural science in 1877 , thereby obtaining a geological scholarship .

He received his M.A. from Oxford in 1882, meanwhile serving as assistant in the Botanical Department of the British Museum from 1880 to 1887 ,where he had charge of the Monocotyledons. Until that time he had viewed the field of botany with little interest , but in his new position he energetically threw himself into the work . In his leisure hours he studied the British flora and on holidays collected in southern Ireland , Norway , and Switzerland . During the years at the British Museum , he published a prodigious number of papers on the Monocotyledons and various notes on British plants and insects . His orchid works during that time included :

The orchids of Madagascar (Journ. Linn.Soc. Bot. 21 , 1885 ).

A Monograph of the Genus Liparis (journ. Linn . Soc ., Bot , 22 , 1886) .

Orchidaceae ,Scitamineae et Cyperaceae Africanae (Bot.da .so. Bot, Coimbra , 5 , 1887 ).

Botany of the Roraima Expedition , Orchidaceae and Cyperaceae (Trans . Linn.Soc , London ,Bot , 2, 1887) .

Notes on self fertilization and cleistogamy in Orchids (journal .Linn.Soc . London ,Bot , 24 , 1888) .

A revision of the Genus Microstylis and Malaxis (Journ. Linn.Soc. London,Bot . 24 , 1888).

With the Rev. T.S.Lea and Mr. G. Ramage, in 1887 he undertook an expedition to Fernando de Noronha ,Brazil , collecting the flora , fauna , and minerals fo that islan and the flora of Penambuco. These collections were deposited in the British Museum ,and an account of them later appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society in 1890.

He was well qualified by 1888 , when he was appointed as first director of Gardens and Forests in the Straits Settlements, with headquarters in Singapore .The Singapore Botanic Gardens , founded in 1859, were 200 acres in extent , partly horticultural and partly used for raising economic crops. In addition , Ridley had under his control the Government House grounds and the Malacca and Penang Botanic Gardens.

Little was known of the Malayan flora at that time , so Ridley studied it intensively , exploring all parts of the peninsula as well as visiting Java , Sumatra , Borneo , and the Cocos and Christmas Islands ,collecting large amounts of living and dried plants. Besides forming a good herbarium at Singapore , he distributed 2000 herbarium specimens a year to Kew, the British Museum ,the Royal Botanic Garden at Culcutta ,and elsewhere . Living plants were cultivated at the Singapore Gardens, though many were alos dispatched to Kew .

Ridley was kept hard at work ; a great share of his time was taken by his labors with economic plants , herbarium work, publication of an agricultural bulletin , and writing articles on botany and general natural history for various publications(including the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society , of which he was editor and Secretary for the society ). Nevertheless, he still managed to transform the gardens into one of the most picturesque and luxurious plantings of their kind in the world. Of the orchid collected by him and figured in the Botanical Magazine , the following were prominent : Microstylis scottii, Paphiopedilum exul, Sarcochilus lilacinus ,and Bulbophyllum galbinum . Other of his orchis works included his " Orchidaceae of the Flora of Mt. Kinabalu" (Trans. Linn. Soc. , London,Bot. 4 , 1894) and " The Orchidaceae and Apostasiaceae of the Malay Peninsula " (Journ. Linn.Soc. , Bot. 32, 1896).

One of the most significant and valuable accomplishments of Ridley's career was the development of a method of tapping Para rubber trees .This and his persistence in persuading the skeptical planters that they could profit by " growing " rubber , led to the gigantic development of the plantation rubber industory throughout the eastern tropics and the successful foundation of the industry.

After his retirement in 1912 Ridley devoted himself to writing and making further botanical expeditions . He had previously added to his travel experience by visits to Annam, Cambodia, Burma , Siam , Ceylon, Jamica ,and in 1912, India . His botanical collections amounted to about 50,000 specimens ,with some 3000 of them new to science.

His years of experience in the plant sciences gave him valuable preparation for the many outstanding works he subsequently produced . His Flora of the Malay Peninsula ,which appeared in five volumes during the years 1922-1925 , stands itself as a monument to the author . During much of the time in which it was written Ridley was seriously ill, even fearing that he would not live to complete it . After its completion ,and his folllwing work on plant dispersal of Plants thoughout the World, a work of 744 pages (1930) , he contributed many papers on botany and other subjects to various scientific journals.

He attended meeting of the Linnean Society with regularity , his erudition brilliantly showing despite his advanced age. In addition , he served as member of the council and as vice-president . In 1950, at the age of ninety-five, he was awarded the society's highest honor ,the Linnean Medal.

Riddley suffered a sever illness in 1953 which caused his eyesight to fail , but onece again he recovered ang greatly enjoyed celebrating his centenary on 10 October 1955. He died in his 101 st year at his home at Kew , on 24 October 1956 , remaining alert almost to the last.

Numeous plants and animals were named in his honor. Among the orchids, Schlechter named a genus of New Guinea orchid Ridleyella , and his name is further commeorated inAcriopsis ridleyi , Earia ridleyi , Lecanortchis ridleyana , Coelogyne ridleyana , dendrobium rindleyanum.

References

Curtis Botanical Magazine 1931. Dedications and Portraits 1827-1927.

Nelmes, ernast ,and Cothberton , wm., Comps . London; Bernad quaritch Ltd.