User:DavidAnstiss/Henry John Noltie

Henry John Noltie

Noltie, Henry John (1957-)

Standard Form: Noltie

Area of Interest: Spermatophytes

Information Source: from H.J.N. 26 Feb. 1990

Example of Name Published: Iris dolichosiphon in Kew Mag. 7(1) (1990)

Dr Henry Noltie, Research Associate, Historical Researcher After studying botany at Oxford University, and Museum Studies at University of Leicester, Henry Noltie worked at RBGE from 1986 to 2017 as a curator and taxonomist. For 14 years he worked on the Flora of Bhutan project, leading the team for its concluding years. He wrote two of the volumes of the Flora, relating to the monocots,

Flora of Bhutan, Volume 3, Part 1 Monocotyledonous Families other than Grasses

for which he received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. From 2000 his work was on historical aspects of the rich herbarium and illustrations collections of the RBGE, especially relating to India, which combined nomenclatural research with historical and art-history studies and the mounting of exhibitions at Inverleith House. This resulted in a series of publications on Scottish East India Company surgeons, and the botanical drawings they commissioned from Indian artists in the late 18th and early 19th century. This work was extended into SE Asia in a collaboration with the British Library on the collections of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

He also has interests in Scottish botany during the 18th century, including the Scottish Enlightenment botanist John Hope. This also took visual materials for its starting point – the unique collection of Hope’s teaching drawings preserved at RBGE - and led to the writing of a short biography in 2011.

The last of the Indian monographs, published in 2016 and 2018, consists of three volumes on the collections of Hugh Cleghorn (1820–1895), a pioneering Forest Conservator, but also the source of one of the largest groups of botanical drawings and many important books in the RBGE collection.

As a Research Associate Henry continues to work in all these areas of interest, most recently on a collection of botanical drawings made in the 1780s at Dunkeld and Blair Atholl by Lady Charlotte Murray.

In 2019, Society for the History of Natural History Founders’ Medals are awarded on the nomination of Council to persons eminent in the fields of the history and/or bibliography of natural history. Council has awarded the Founders’ Medal to Henry John Noltie.

Henry worked at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) from 1986 until retiring in 2017, first in the Exhibitions team, then within Science. He continues as a Research Associate. His career spans taxonomic botany and the history of science, focusing on India and surrounding countries. Twenty years ago he embarked a project delving into the archives of botanical art at RBGE, identifying priceless originals works of art which had been included within the Library’s “cuttings collection”, recomposing them into sets of drawings, and thus demonstrated to be of major historical importance. Working with archives and drawings in many other organisations (notably British Library, Natural History Museum London, and RBG Kew), he has resurrected lost interconnections. His expertise in botanical art, herbarium collections and manuscript archives brings these together and interprets their importance.

Henry’s first book on the history of natural history was 'Indian Botanical Drawings' (1999, Royal Botanic Garden), followed by one on John Hutton Balfour’s Botanical Teaching Diagrams (2000) and another on the Dapuri Drawings (2002, ACC Art Books). His scholarly work on the Botany of Robert Wight (2005) combined historical research with critical analysis in systematic botany. Henry was awarded the 2005 Stafleu Medal by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy for this monumental publication.

His continued interest in Wight lead to the publication of the richly-illustrated three-volume Robert Wight and the Botanical Drawings of Rungiah & Govindoo (2007), which included a highly personal and engaging account of Noltie’s own journeys in search of this great man.

His attention then turned to Hugh Cleghorn’s achievements and impact in Indian Forestry against the background of his biography and collections, culminating with the recent publication of three major books. He interspersed these with books on the collections of the Walkers of Ceylon, the botanical sketchbook of Charles and John Raven, the botanical drawings of Sir Thomas Raffles, Hooker & Arnott’s commentary on Captain Beechey, the life of Prof. John Hope and others. In his retirement, Henry revised his 1999 book, now Botanical Art from India: from the Collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2017).

Highly regarded amongst his peers in botany, history of science and collection curation for his deep knowledge and expertise in the history of natural history make him a worthy recipient of the SHNH Founders’ Medal.

Works
Henry J. Noltie Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2011) ISBN 10: 1906129711ISBN 13: 9781906129712
 * John Hope 17251786 Alan G Morton's Memoir of a Scottish Botanist

Ingram, Ruth; Noltie, Henry J. ISBN 10: 0900344458 / ISBN 13: 9780900344459
 * The Flora of Angus (Forfar, V.C.90)

Noltie, Henry J. ISBN 10: 1906129029 / ISBN 13: 9781906129026
 * Robert Wight and the Botanical Drawings of Rungiah and Govin

Noltie, Henry J. Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2016) ISBN 10: 1910877107ISBN 13: 9781910877104
 * Indian Forester, Scottish Laird: The Botanical Lives of Hugh Cleghorn of Stravithie

Noltie, Henry J. Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2010) ISBN 10: 1906129681ISBN 13: 9781906129682
 * A Commentary on the New Taxa Described in The Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage by W.J. Hooker and G.A. Walker-Arnott

Noltie, Henry J. Published by Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburg (2002) ISBN 10: 1851494227ISBN 13: 9781851494224
 * The Dapuri Drawings: Alexander Gibson and the Bombay Botanic Gardens

Noltie, Henry J. Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2014) ISBN 10: 1906129894ISBN 13: 9781906129897
 * Botanical Collections of Colonel and Mrs Walker

Henry J. Noltie Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2016)
 * The Cleghorn Collection South Indian Botanical Drawings 1845 to 1860

ISBN 10: 1910877115ISBN 13: 9781910877111

Noltie, Henry J. Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2017) ISBN 10: 1910877220ISBN 13: 9781910877227
 * Botanical Art from India

Raven, Charles; Raven, John; Noltie, Henry J. [Editor] Published by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2012)
 * Wild Flowers: A Sketchbook

ISBN 10: 1906129851ISBN 13: 9781906129859