To celebrate this year’s Chelsea History Festival, join Jacek Wajer, a curator at the Natural History Museum, to find out about Philip Miller’s work at Chelsea Physic Garden, his herbarium collection and how it is used today.

Phillip Miller (1691-1771) was Head Gardener at Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 to 1770. Under his directorship at the Garden the number of plants cultivated in England almost doubled.

Miller’s most celebrated work was The Gardeners Dictionary, a practical guide to horticulture published in eight editions between 1731 and 1768, which included descriptions of over 4,500 species of plants, many of them new to science.

Throughout his long and illustrious career, Miller also gathered nearly 10,000 specimens of plants from all over the world grown at Chelsea Physic Garden. This impressive collection was purchased by Sir Joseph Banks at an auction in 1774 and is now part of the General Herbarium at the Natural History Museum.

Booking Information:
£20.00 (Concessions: £18.00)

The Speaker:

Jacek Wajer

Jacek Wajer is a plant biologist with an interest in the history of botany and biological nomenclature. He currently works as a curator in charge of Section II of the General Herbarium at the Natural History Museum. He is particularly interested in the influence of horticulture on the development of the museum’s botanical collections.

Jacek’s research is currently focused on the origin of the specimens collected by Philip Miller and other important 18th century gardeners in the museum’s collection.

Director’s choice: