Inventory Site Record

South London Botanical Institute was established in 1910 by Allan Octavian Hume, a British political reformer and civil servant who worked in India for the Bengal civil service from 1849-1882, but who was also a noted ornithologist and botanist. He was instrumental in the foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. He left India in 1894 and in 1910 opened the South London Botanical Institute with an extensive herbarium and library, with the aim of 'converting the boy in the gutter and the man in the street to a love for our British plants'. Many distinguished botanists have been associated with the botanical institute whose garden now has over 500 labelled species in themed borders.

Site location:

323 Norwood Road, Tulse Hill

Postcode:

SE24 9AQ

What 3 Words:

shops.bridge.decks

Type of site:

Botanical Institution

Borough:

Lambeth

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

Currently closed pending completion of building works (2023) check website for re-opening, and off-site programme
Has taken part in Open Garden Squares Weekend 14 times, most recently in 2022.

Special conditions:

Annual membership: £25

Facilities:

Toilet

Events:

Courses, workshops, school visits, events for all ages. Members' programme of lectures and workshops. Annual open day and plant sale

Public transport:

Rail: Tulse Hill. Tube: Brixton (Victoria), Clapham Common, Clapham South then bus. Bus: 68, 196, 322, 468; 2, 201, P13

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

02/08/2023

Last minor changes:

02/08/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.slbi.org.uk

South London Botanical Institute was established in 1910 by Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912). Hume was a British political reformer and civil servant who worked in India from 1849 - 1882 undertaking a number of roles as part of the Bengal Civil Service. Throughout his career he undertook numerous reforms in a wide range of areas, from social welfare and education to agriculture. His outspoken criticism of what he believed to be wrong and his questioning of British policies in India led to his demotion in 1879 from his post as Secretary to the Department of Revenue, Agriculture and Commerce. He retired from the civil service in 1882, and in 1883 his open letter to graduates of Calcutta University calling on them to form their own political movement led to the foundation of the Indian National Congress.

Hume was also a noted ornithologist and while in India he amassed a vast collection of bird specimens, founded a quarterly ornithological journal, 'Stray Feathers' in 1872, and wrote a number of major works on Indian birds, as well as developing an interest in horticulture and botany. In 1855 he had presented his collection of natural history, particularly ornithological, to the Natural History Museum, the largest single collection offered to the museum at the time. He established a personal museum and library at Rothney Castle, Simla, the palatial house he had purchased in the 1880s, where he added a conservatory, a hall to display his collection of Indian horns, and a large room for his bird museum. With the assistance of a European gardener he transformed the grounds and conservatory into a horticultural exhibition. His interest in ornithology diminished after a substantial body of notes in preparation for a publication were stolen in c.1890 and he turned his interest to the horticulture around his home.

On his return to London from India in 1894, Hume's interest in plants and botany led him to develop links with leading botanists of the day, to engage in plant collecting and to build up his own herbarium. His plan to set up a botanical institute dates from at least 1905, and his purchase of 323 Norwood Road in Tulse Hill enabled him to realise his ambition of establishing a publicly accessible herbarium and library in 1910. His aims were to promote botany as a means of mental culture and relaxation, with a particular wish for 'converting the boy in the gutter and the man in the street to a love for our British plants'. He endowed his new botanical institute with £10,000, and also left £15,000 in his will for its maintenance. The first curator was W H Griffith, and many distinguished botanists have been associated with the institute and garden Hume established. South London Botanical Institute now houses a herbarium of around 100,000 specimens, mostly of flowering plants from Europe, including many collected by Hume. The collection has been augmented over the years by the addition of other herbaria, from an early behest by botanist Frederick Townsend who left his herbarium and collection to the institute in 1905 when it was still in the planning stages.

After Hume's death in 1912, the Institute Garden fell into decline over the years but was eventually restored in 1975 under the Institute's Director Frank Brightman. Twenty numbered beds with rare and unusual plants were created, including plants from John Gerard's Herball such as Mirabilis Jalapa., the 'four o'clock plant'. The garden now has over 500 labelled species in themed borders, with traditional medicinal herbs alongside plants used in current pharmaceutical research; British natives, ferns, scented plants, monocots, drought-tolerant plants and unusual vegetables are found alongside rare trees and shrubs from the southern hemisphere. At the heart of the garden is a pond supporting native wetland plants, and a home for frogs and newts.

The house contains an important reference library, a herbarium and collections donated by botanists including from the local area and London, such as Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society. As part of celebrations for the Institute's centenary in 2010, a 'living museum of strange visitors' was re-created, as the new garden was described in a newspaper article in 1912. Projects for the future included a dye-plant bed, moss trail and an area of rare cornfield wildflowers, and a centenary mosaic was commissioned from artist Emma Biggs. In March 2015 London's first Moss Trail was opened in the garden featuring 12 different types of moss. In 2018 a grant from the Botanic Gardens Conservation International enabled a partnership with the Botanic Garden of Rome. In 2022 talks and events ranged from Botany for Gardeners and Botanical Perfumery to House Plants, Terrariums, Wildflowers and a PLANTinum Jubilee Celebration to celebrate plants, the Platinum Jubilee and World Environment Day.

The Institute is closed while undergoing a major renovation project in 2023 to repair the building's structure, which suffers from major subsidence, and to improve accessibility. It is due to re-open in late summer 2023.

Sources consulted:

Ian Yarham, Michael Waite, Andrew Simpson, Niall Machin, 'Nature Conservation in Lambeth', Ecology Handbook 26 (London Ecology Unit), 1994; Michael Young 'Collins Guide to Botanical Gardens', 1987; South London Botanical Institute website www.slbi.org.uk; Allan Octavian Hume entry on Wikipedia:

Grid ref:

TQ317731 (531785,173161)

Size in hectares:

0.2

Site ownership:

South London Botanical Institute

Site management:

South London Botanical Institute

Date(s):

1910

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Local Importance

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None

South London Botanical Institute - Photo: Janne Watson
Date taken: 09/06/13 13:43

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