Alexander Bremner Westland
1883 - Today
Gardener and plant collector who served in the Hong Kong Botanic Garden and the Taj Mahal gardens. Collected on Lan Tan Island and adjacent islands.
Kew gardener, 1883. Assistant Superintendent, Botanical and Afforestation Department, Hong Kong, 1883-1890. Collected on Lan Tan Island and adjacent islands. To Taj Mahal Gardens, India. In USA 1890s.
On the recommendation of Sir Joseph Hooker, in 1871, Charles Ford was appointed to Hong Kong as Superintendent of the Botanic Garden. A Kewite, Alexander B Westland, was sent out in 1883 as assistant to Ford.
He returned to England in 1890, and was transferred to an appointment at the Taj Mahal Gardens in India.
‘Kewites in the Far East’, Journal of the Kew Guild, vol. 3 no.23 (1916)
Resources: Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists, Ray Desmond (1994), Journal of the Kew Guild.