News

The SLBI is an organization in the best British tradition: altruistic, egalitarian and just a little eccentric. Founded over 100 years ago by A O Hume, a retired Indian Civil Servant, the SLBI is dedicated to encouraging and enabling local people to study botany.

The Institute’s rather formal nomenclature, with its whiff of worthy Edwardian self-improvement, is misleading. The organisation is in fact notably inclusive and friendly, and is open to professional and amateur botanists or indeed anyone with an interest in learning about plants. The well-used education room brims with specimens being scrutinised by after schools science clubs. Annual membership currently stands at £18, for which members get the run of the institute’s facilities, including its well-stocked library and microscope room, a varied programme of lectures by distinguished botanists, social events and field trips (excluding travel costs and entrance fees). Members can also get involved with research projects such as the long-running survey of St Leonard’s churchyard in Streatham – the findings of which will feed into the London Flora currently being prepared. Courses in botanical illustration are run twice yearly and there is often a plant themed art exhibition to admire in the upstairs meeting room. At the heart of the Institute’s resources is the Herbarium, a historic collection of over 100,000 dried plant, lichen, algae and fungi specimens, diligently mounted on card, annotated, and stored in the original black iron cabinets designed by AO Hume. Many specimens are over 100 years old and are an invaluable resource for botanists today. Consisting of several herbaria, the collection, with typical SLBI idiosyncrasy, contains a particularly strong record of Shetland Isles flora. A HLF funded project has recently got underway to conserve the herbarium and bring it into the digital age, making it accessible to all; the project should complete in 2018.

The SLBI is still based in its original home in Tulse Hill, the magnificent mature Ginkgo biloba in the front drive perhaps the first hint to the unsuspecting passerby that this is no ordinary Victorian house on Norwood Road. For, in addition to its other resources, the SLBI has the perfect aid to plant study in the shape of its own botanic back garden. Measuring just 24 x 16 metres, it is billed as ‘London’s smallest botanic garden’ but size appears to be no object to its ambition and its neatly labelled beds contain over 500 species. The garden was a feature of the SLBI from its inception, when it was described at a ‘living museum of strange visitors’. Today, although none of the original ‘strangers’ have survived, the garden is packed with interesting specimens from home and abroad, exploring a lively selection of botanic themes.

Visits to the garden get off to a bloodthirsty start in the greenhouse, whose collection of carnivorous plants provides a grisly source of fascination particularly for younger visitors. The Australasian bed showcases the extraordinary range of plant life from down under, including 18th-century introductions by the plant hunter Joseph Banks such as Sophora tetraptera (New Zealand Kowhai), and Callistemon citrinus (bottlebrush). Closer to home the ‘weed garden’ flies the flag for British native plants – its label is ironic since these plants used to be regarded as weeds. Over in the Dry Border, Mediterranean plants take centre stage with grey leaved toughies like Stachys byzantina (lamb’s ears) and Phlomis italica specially adapted to reduce evaporation, and succulents such as Sedum populifolium which have their own in-house water supply in their fleshy stems. Fragrant plants like rosemary, lavender and sage are also drought resistant but other scented plants are given their own border. This includes Iris ‘Florentina’ – whose violet scented roots are used in the perfume trade – and its foul smelling relative, Iris foetidissima. Medicinal plants strut their stuff in two borders, one of which is themed around Gerard’s Herball of 1596, the other exploring pharmaceutical and medicinal plant remedies. By way of counterpoint, poisonous plants in the garden include deadly nightshade, aconite and poison ivy. Over by the pond there’s a bed dedicated to monocots, an important division of the plant kingdom whose subjects are defined as having only one seed leaf (cotyledon). Monocots include grasses, bamboos and palms, sedges and architectural plants such as Cordyline australis, as well as native flowers like Iris pseudacorus (yellow flag iris) and later summer flowering South African plants like Eucomis bicolor. The garden is also home to London’s first moss trail, a collection of twelve different mosses and liverworts whose common names alone make you want to track them down: Bird’s-claw beard moss (Barbula unguiculata) and Swan’s neck thyme moss (Mnium hornum).

Formally laid out and packing a lot of plants into its modest urban footprint, the garden is tended by part-time gardener Sarah Davey, and an assistant, together with volunteer help from members. This verdant plot is a popular venue for plant sales and events such as the Open Garden Squares Weekend and the Chelsea Fringe. SLBI events are famous for the excellence of their cakes; members can also enjoy the garden with a glass of wine on summer ‘twilight’ openings.

Having celebrated its centenary in 2010, the SLBI has embarked on its second century with renewed vigour; its mission to inspire interest in plants and to reconnect Londoners to the natural world. Current president, (former Natural History Museum botanist) Roy Vickery, dismisses the idea that you have to go far out of London to discover plants; his mantra is ‘rediscover the local’ and according to him, cosmopolitan London is just the place to do that. Enthusiastic about the future of the SLBI, Roy sums up its charms by describing it as a place where ‘you can be yourself and you don’t have to pretend to be cleverer than you are’. It is nothing short of a south London treasure.

 South London Botanical Institute
323 Norwood Road, SE24
T: 020 8674 5787
www.slbi.org.uk
Open: Thurs 10.00-16.00,
other times by appointment

this in an excerpt from our forthcoming book:
the London Garden Book A-Z
by Abigail Willis

On this day (13th April) 1892 the controversial head of Bomber Command was born.  Here's brief account of the man, taken from London's Monuments:

Strand (west of St Clement Danes), WC2

Sculptor Faith Winter,   Bronze   1992

Arthur Travers Harris joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 and became a pilot in the First World War at the head of 44 Squadron. In 1919 he was made a squadron leader in the newly formed Royal Air Force and saw action in India, Iraq and Iran. In Iraq Harris showed his preference for brutality when bombing villages to quell a rebellion. Air Commodore Lionel Charlton resigned in protest after witnessing the casualties. Harris had no doubts about his policy and wrote of his actions, ‘The Arab and Kurd now know what real bombing means, within 45 minutes a full-sized village can be practically wiped out’.

His advocacy of a policy of strategic bombing, developed by Hugh Trenchard, and his lack of scruples was to earn Harris the nickname ‘Bomber’ or ‘Butcher’ within the RAF and the position of Air Vice Marshal by the start of World War Two. Harris served under Charles Portal as head of Bomber Command and worked hard to cripple Germany’s morale through strategic bombing of its major cities. As Allied victory became more certain, it was Harris who successfully appealed to Churchill for the policy of strategic bombing to continue, culminating in the bombing of Dresden and other cities in February 1945. After the war Harris continued to defend his actions, but spent most of the post-war years living in South Africa. This monument was unveiled by the Queen Mother in 1992 amid controversy, with a crowd booing and throwing eggs in protest at the celebration of someone they considered a war criminal.

This monument is one of over 200 featured in the latest edition of London's Monuments.

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich Park, SE10

Sculptor Anatoly Novikov      Zinc-alloy     2013

Yuri Gagarin was the first man to look down upon our planet from outer space when his Soviet space craft orbited the earth on 12th April 1961. Gagarin was not just a hero of the Soviet Union and when he visited London, just months after his successful flight, vast crowds came out the greet him. He was too valuable to be allowed into space again, but tragically died in 1968 while testing a MiG-15 fighter plane. This monument was a gift from the Russian space agency to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight and was unveiled by his daughter who, unlike her father, lived to see the US moon landings in 1969 and the fall of the Soviet Union. It was temporarily placed on Pall Mall, but has now found permanent residence in the grounds of the Royal Observatory.

This monument is one of over 200 featured in the latest edition of London's Monuments.

Victoria Embankment, Temple Section, WC2

Sculptor Baron Carlo Marochetti / Pedestal & Surround Norman Shaw, Bronze, 1877

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born with engineering in his blood, being the son of the famous French emigré engineer Marc Isambard Brunel. After a thorough scientific education, Isambard began work with his father on the ambitious Wapping to Rotherhithe Tunnel which encountered many problems and was only completed in 1843. Isambard won the competition to design the Clifton Suspension Bridge and soon after was appointed the chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, revolutionising rail travel with viaducts, bridges and wider gauge track which greatly increased the speed of rail travel. At the London end of the Western line he was given the task of designing a new station to rival that of Euston. Brunel’s work can still be seen today in the vast glass edifice of Paddington Station.

Among his other achievements were the design of a prefabricated 1,000 bed hospital for the Crimea and the design and building of three ships between 1837 and 1859, each larger and more revolutionary than the last. The construction of the last ship – The Great Eastern – on the banks of the Thames was fraught with financial and technical risks and the stress involved contributed to Brunel’s fatal stroke on the ship’s deck within days of its launch. Brunel’s engineering achievements are some of the greatest of the Victorian era, the most impressive being the Clifton Suspension Bridge which was completed to Brunel’s design after his death.

This monument is one of over 200 featured in the latest edition of                      London's Monuments.

Saturday April 9th is the death day of one of this country's greatest philosophers. Below are the details taken from London's Monuments concerning Bacon's life and his London monument.

South Square, Gray's Inn, WC1,

Sculptor F.W. Pomeroy, Coade Stone, 1912

Francis Bacon’s reputation rests upon his achievements as a philosopher who advocated the use of scientific methods, observation and deduction to determine knowledge and truth. He argued against the abstract reasoning of Aristotle and in this way helped establish the philosophical ground upon which men such as Newton and Faraday could prosper. Bacon’s life did not match the clarity and purity of his writings. His father was a successful member of the legal establishment and Francis was born within walking distance of this statue, but when his father died in 1579 his estate was divided between his five sons. Francis had extravagant tastes and despite becoming a barrister and member of court he was imprisoned briefly for debt in 1598. Ambition and lack of money led him to betray his friend and patron, the 2nd Earl of Essex, in order to gain a position in court and even helped in the prosecution which led to the hapless earl’s execution in 1601. Bacon became a favourite of James I and was made Lord Chancellor in 1618, but was dismissed for corruption in 1621. He was barred from office and spent the last years of his life writing. In 1626, while attempting to preserve the carcass of a chicken using snow – pre-empting Birdseye by several centuries – he contracted pneumonia and died. Gardening was another of Bacon’s interests and he did much work in the garden surrounding this monument, including, it is claimed, the planting of the Catalpa Tree which can still be found here today. There is a smaller monument to Bacon on the 2nd floor of City of London School, Victoria Embankment.

This monument is one of over 200 featured in the latest edition of London's Monuments.

At a time when the Conservative government are attempting a major reform of the nations education system, it's worth sparing a thought for a politician who really changed the education of this country for the better – William Edward Forster MP.  He died on this day in 1886, having passed the 1870 Education Act which introduced elementary education for all children. 

9. William Edward Forster (1818-1886)
Victoria Embankment, Temple Section, WC2
Sculptor H. R. Pinker, Bronze, 1890
William Edward Forster was a Victorian philanthropist, reformer
and politician. Forster received a Quaker education and as a young
man was an anti-slavery campaigner while training to be a lawyer.
Forster took to business rather than law and made his fortune in
the Bradford wool trade. He was expelled from the Quaker church
when he married outside the religion in 1850 and then devoted
much of his energy to the local Liberal Party. He became MP for
Bradford in 1861 and was soon appointed to Gladstone’s cabinet,
doing much to carry the 1870 Education Act which ensured universal
elementary education. Forster had a great interest in Irish politics and
was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1880. He was a fierce
supporter of the union and there were several assassination plots
against him. When Gladstone changed his mind on home rule Forster
resigned from office and became one of his most determined critics.
This monument commemorates his role as educational reformer.

This monument is one of over 200 featured in the latest edition of London's Monuments.

Amnesty International hold regular book sales at their Shoreditch offices.  The sales offer a mix of second-hand, donated books and a smaller selection to new literature provided by publishers sympathetic to the cause.  The event is always well attended with plenty of fusty book dealers looking for new stock, as well as those just seeking a few literary bargains to add to their library. The stock covers anything from antiquarian sheet music to new fiction, but the pricing policy is simple with all books sold for just £1.

There is always a queue forming before the doors open on the day of the sales and it doesn't take long for some shoppers to form tottering piles of books in corners of the hall in preparation for the check out.  There are lots of regulars that seem to know each other and take time out to chat about their latest acquisitions and of course, discuss the ones that got away.  But this is not a closed shop and new visitors are always welcome and can just drop-in on sale days with no need to register in advance.

Human Rights Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard
Shoreditch
EC2A 3EA
books@amnesty.org.uk
Next event: 10th May 11am-6pm

The Amnesty International Book Sale is featured in the new edition of Book Lovers' London along with many other book events, bookshops, libraries, book binders and much more.