George Loddiges, Snr

Birth Date 1786

Birth Place Hackney, Middlesex

Death Date 5 Jun 1846

Place of Death: Hackney, Middlesex

Portrait can be seen in this article written by Rudolf Jenny in Lankestteriana 8(2): 43-52. 2008 http://www.lankesteriana.ucr.ac.cr/lankesteriana/Lankesteriana%208(...

along with examples of his illustrations.

Parents:

Father Joachim Conrad Loddiges

Mother: Sarah Aldous

Marriage – Jane Creighton

17th Oct 1811 George Loddiges of St. John Hackney in Middlesex married Jane Creighton of Clerkenwell St. James, Islington by Licence. Witnesses William Loddiges and Alice Creighton.

His brother William married Jane’s sister Alice on the same day – a double wedding.

Children
Daughter Helena died 15 Feb 1871 aged 53 Buried Feb 20th

Daughter Jane – married to Edward William Cooke (Landscape and marine painter). He was the son of George Cooke (born 1781 in London), a line-engraver and Elizabeth Harriet; bapt. 19 May 1811 Islington, St. James Pentonville. He engraved the drawings for George Loddiges’ publication “Botanical Cabinet” A number of the drawings were drawn by Jane and Edward. Jane Loddiges Cooke died in 1843. She and Edward had a daughter Florence who was born in 1841 and died a year later.

Together they had three children: a daughter who died in infancy and two sons.

Edward died in 1880

13 June 1840 Jane Loddiges daughter of George Loddiges, Horticulturist, married by Licence Edward William Cooke Gentleman of Barnes, Surrey, son of George Cooke Gentleman at Parish Chirch, Hackney. (Witnesses included George Loddiges and William Loddiges)

Career:

George Loddiges is generally credited with raising the profile of the Hackney nursery established by his father before him.

George published 2000 coloured plates of rare plants introduced into its hothouses and gardens from around the world, and built the largest hothouse in the world to display the best collection of palms and orchids in Europe.

George Loddiges also linked the nursery into the scientific circles of the day;

He was –

a Fellow of the Microscopical Society (FMS),

Fellow of the Linnean Society (FLS),

Fellow of the Horticultural Society (FHS), (Vice President)

and Fellow of the Zoological Society (FZS) in London.

He had wide interests in scientific subjects beyond botany, becoming particularly knowledgeable about early microscopy and one aspect of ornithology (humming-birds). He owned a large collection of preserved Hummingbirds. Abroad the nursery's influence spread to the imperial gardens of St Petersburg in Russia and the Adelaide Botanic Garden in South Australia. Although the business closed in the 1850s, it leaves an important legacy in many of our gardens and parks, since a number of the attractive plants we take for granted, were first introduced into cultivation by Loddiges Nursery.

George built a new greenhouse for Orchids at the nursery.

Honours and Awards:

The Horticultural Society awarded George Loddiges numerous medals throughout this period: Silver Medal, 1818, 1819; Silver Medal (Sir Joseph Banks Memorial Portrait Prize), 1823, 1826, 1832, 1835; President's Silver Medal, 1836; Silver Flora Medal, 1837.

Memorials to members of the Loddiges family can be seen in the gardens of the Church of St John-at-Hackney and Abney Park Cemetery.

Publications: ' The Botanical Cabinet’ published in 20 parts from 1817 to 1833.