1 June 2018

Exchanges with Bitton: Cataloguing the Ellacombe Family Papers

In this blog post, Archives Graduate Trainee Saffron Mackay discusses her recent cataloguing project researching ‘The Ellacombe Papers’ held in Kew's Archives.

By Saffron Mackay

Photograph of one of Henry Nicholson Ellacombe's letter, circa 1911

The Ellacombes

Following in the footsteps of my predecessors, one of the tasks that I have completed as part of my role of Archives Graduate Trainee is a cataloguing project. The collection that has been called the ‘Ellacombe Family Papers’ is a small, but fascinating collection centred on father and son, Henry Thomas Ellacombe (1790–1885) and Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (1822–1916).

Henry Thomas Ellacombe

When I first began the cataloguing project I was surprised to learn that the Ellacombes were not the typical botanists or horticulturalists based at Kew. Instead the Ellacombes were Church of England clergymen who were predominantly based in Bitton, South Gloucestershire, and held a shared interest in gardening. 

Henry Thomas Ellacombe, a graduate from Oriel College, Oxford, was based in Bitton from 1817 until 1850, initially as curate, and later as vicar. During his time in Bitton, Henry Thomas corresponded with various renowned horticulturalists including Kew's William Townsend Aiton and William Borrer. Those letters that were sent to Henry Thomas by horticulturalists were bound into a volume and have become part of the Ellacombe Papers held at Kew (ELL/1/1)

Henry Thomas is also recorded to have received “a collection of hardy herbaceous plants in number” from Kew in 1845 in one of the Kew Goods Outwards volumes.

In addition to corresponding and exchanging plants with institutions such as Kew, Henry Thomas established a garden at Bitton vicarage, which would be brought to prominence by his son Henry Nicholson Ellacombe.

Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

Henry Nicholson Ellacombe was also a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, and would go on to become his father’s successor at the Bitton vicarage in 1850, inheriting the garden established there. Henry Nicholson was later appointed Rural Dean of Bitton in 1874 and an Honorary Canon of Bristol in 1881.

During his time in Bitton, Henry Nicholson exchanged plants with various botanical gardens across Europe, including Kew, and corresponded frequently with various horticulturalists, including all of the Directors of Kew during his lifetime (ELL/1/2).

Notably the 107th volume of the Botanical Magazine of 1881 was dedicated by Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker to the Canon Ellacombe. In his dedication, Hooker wrote, “alllow me...to record my high appreciation of the value of your venerable father’s and your own intelligent interest and zeal in the introduction and cultivation of interesting, rare, and beautiful hardy plants, and your disinterested liberality in the distribution of them amongst Horticulturalists”.

In addition to their clerical duties and maintaining the vicarage garden, both Ellacombes were published authors. 

While Henry Thomas' literature concentrated on bells, Henry Nicholson’s publications reflected his interest in gardening. In Kew's Archives, included in a bound volume of correspondence to and from Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (ELL/1/2), are letters concerning not only the exchange of seed samples, but also his book ‘The Plant Lore and Garden Craft of Shakespeare’ (1878).

Photo of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Director of Kew 1865–85

The Ellacombe Collection at Kew

How the entire collection of Ellacombe papers came to Kew remains a mystery. 

The letters of Henry Thomas Ellacombe were bequeathed to Kew by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe in 1886, however how and when the rest of the collection arrived at Kew has yet to be discovered.

Despite this, it can be suggested that the rest of the collection arrived at Kew through the actions of Sir Arthur William Hill, who was the Assistant Director of Kew at the time of Henry Nicholson’s death in 1916, and edited a publication dedicated to the late Canon, ‘Henry Nicholson Ellacombe: A Memoir’. The publication frequently refers to content from the collection in great detail – particularly the travel diaries of Henry Nicholson.

In a letter to Gerald Loder (who developed the gardens at Wakehurst) in 1918, Sir Arthur William Hill refers to Ellacombe’s papers held at Kew.  Due to this it can be assumed that Canon Ellacombe bequeathed these papers to Kew either before his death, or they were bequeathed by one of his family members after his death.

In addition to this, included in the collection is Hill’s correspondence relating to the publication of the memoir of Canon Ellacombe with these letters including written accounts from friends and acquaintances about their memories of Ellacombe (ELL/1/4).

Photo of Sir Arthur William Hill
Sir Arthur William Hill, Assistant Director of Kew 1907–1922, and Director of Kew 1992–1941

Travel Diaries of Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

While a large portion of the collection is centred around the correspondence of both Ellacombes', the largest, and in my opinion one of the most unique aspects of it, are the collection of travel diaries written by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (ELL/2)

Contained in twelve small notebooks are detailed journals that map out some of Henry Nicholson’s journeys to Europe and Ireland during his later life. The first of these journals records his journey to Belgium in 1873, when he was 51, with the final journal from 1907 detailing his trips to Florence and Switzerland, when Ellacombe was the astonishing age of 81. 

The journals reflect Canon Ellacombe’s interests in both ecclesial architecture and horticulture. Over the period of time in which the journals were written, Ellacombe visited various churches, and even in some cases included small sketches of details that particularly interested him.

The accounts of Ellacombe’s journeys also reflected his interest in gardening and horticulture. Ellacombe dedicated time to listing flora that he came across in some locations including the Cap Martin Woods in 1903 (ELL/2/10) and Goeschenen in 1907 (ELL/2/12), and presumably also collected specimens of the flora that he saw.

Canon Ellacombe’s exchange of seeds and plants

Also included in the collection are two notebooks (ELL/3). One of these notebooks is particularly interesting, as it records the plants that were presumably received by Ellacombe from 1871 until 1876 (ELL/3/2)

While this may appear to be only a short amount of the time, Sir Arthur William Hill, in a letter to Gerald Loder in 1918,  wrote that the Canon, in the space of six years, received an impressive 5000 plants (approximately) and 1000 packets of seeds. 

Looking at the Kew Inwards and Outwards volumes, Henry Nicholson Ellacombe is recorded to have received specimens like his father, but also recorded to have sent specimens (seeds and live plants) to Kew. Henry Nicholson Ellacombe appears predominantly in the Kew Inwards and Outward volumes ranging from 1868 until 1923.

In addition to the Ellacombe material found in the Archive, Ellacombe also has specimens that are housed at Kew in both the Herbarium and Economic Botany collections.

Cataloguing the Ellacombe Papers has been a fascinating task to undertake, and will hopefully be the first of many other collections that I will catalogue over the course of my career.

To find out more about the Ellacombe Family Papers, please take a look at our online catalogue.

To discover the Ellacombe’s history for yourself you can view the collection in our Reading Room, open weekdays from 10am until 4pm.

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