Arthur William Hill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Arthur William Hill
From the Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Born	11 October 1875
Died	3 November 1941  (aged 66)

Sir Arthur William Hill (born October 11, 1875, died November 3, 1941) was a very important botanist. He was the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which is a famous plant research center in London, England. He was known for studying and classifying plants.

Sir Arthur was the only son of Daniel Hill. He went to Marlborough College where a teacher, Edward Meyrick, helped him get interested in nature. Later, he studied at King's College, Cambridge, where he learned a lot about plants from his professors.

Exploring the World for Plants

Arthur Hill loved to travel and find new plants. His first big trip was to Iceland in 1900 with a geographer named William Bisiker.

Adventures in the Andes

In 1903, he explored the Andes mountains in Bolivia and Peru. This trip made him very interested in special plants called cushion plants, which grow in tight, low clumps. He studied these plants for the rest of his life.

Caribbean Discoveries

He also traveled to the Caribbean in 1911 to study plants there. These trips helped him learn about many different types of plants from around the world.

Leading Kew Gardens

In 1907, Arthur Hill started working at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as an Assistant Director. He helped write books about plants from Africa and India.

Becoming Director

In 1922, he became the Director of Kew Gardens, taking over from Sir David Prain. Even though money was tight after World War I, he did a lot of great things for the gardens.

Sending Botanists Worldwide

Sir Arthur made sure that botanists from Kew could travel all over the world. He sent them to places like Australia, New Zealand, and India to find and study new plants. He also traveled a lot himself, visiting many countries.

Focus on Useful Plants

He was very interested in Economic Botany. This is the study of plants that are useful to people, like plants for food, medicine, or materials. He believed it was important to learn how plants could help society.

Improving the Glasshouses

Sir Arthur also made many improvements to the buildings at Kew. He built new glasshouses and fixed old ones. For example, he was in charge of building the new Rhododendron House in 1925–26 and the South African Succulent House in 1936. These special buildings helped Kew grow plants from different climates.

Research and Recognition

During a visit to New Zealand in 1928, he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He later gave a talk in London about special plants from New Zealand that are natural hybrids (a mix of two different plant types).

In 1935, he wrote an important paper with Brian Laurence Burtt about cushion plants. They studied plants from high mountain areas in Asia, North and South America, and Australia.

A Life Dedicated to Plants

Arthur Hill never married. He sadly died in a riding accident on November 3, 1941, when he was 66 years old. He left behind a great legacy of plant knowledge and improvements to one of the world's most famous botanic gardens.

Honours and Awards

Sir Arthur William Hill received several important awards and recognitions for his work:

• He was given the Veitch Memorial Medal in 1936, which is a high honor for people who have done great things in horticulture (gardening and plant cultivation).
• He was the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, starting in 1922.
• He was a Fellow of the Linnaean Society (1908) and a Fellow of the Royal Society, which are groups of important scientists.