Lindley, John (1799–1865)

English botanist and horticulturist who specialized in the study and classification of orchids.

Lindley was born in Catton, near Norwich, the son of a nurseryman. Despite not having a university education, his enthusiasm for horticulture led him to describe hundreds of species of orchid in Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants 1840. When he was nineteen he worked as Joseph Bank's assistant, helping him in the library and herbarium and went on to publish several works with the acclaimed botanist Robert Brown. In 1820, he was commissioned by the Horticultural Society to illustrate some roses, which led to his appointment as the assistant secretary of the Horticultural Society's Chiswick garden 1822. In 1828, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and made professor of botany at the University of London. He continued to work for the Horticultural Society, becoming its secretary in 1858. Lindley's own herbariums were donated to Kew Gardens and Cambridge University on his death 1865, and they are still maintained in much their original state.