Oxford - Botanical Garden

This is an excerpt from the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 1  which explores around the southern part of Oxford.  The full tour is found on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

The front gate of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden provides us with some clues to its founding.  The Latin inscription above the gateway reads:

“To the Glory of God Almighty and the greatest Honour of King Charles, Henry Earl of Danby gave this garden for the use of the University and the state.  1632.”

(Gloriae Dei Opt. Max. Honori Caroli Regis, in usum Acad. et Reipub. Henricus comes Danby DD. MDCXXXII.)

The bust of Henry Danvers 1st Earl of Danby (1573-1643) sits above the inscription.  He gave five acres of land in 1621 to “promote the furtherance of learning to glorify nature “and this gateway was added in 1632 by the famous architect Inigo Jones (1573-1652).  On either side are statues of Charles I and Charles II which make this gateway look similar to Temple Bar in London – also designed by Inigo Jones ”.

Jacob Bobart became the first custodian of the garden (1642), and his son (also Jacob) sent a list of every plant they owned to other botanical gardens with the hopes they could exchange seeds. This is a practise continued by Botanical gardens worldwide. Over the past four centuries various guardians have kept the botanical studies alive and relevant for medicine and science. There are around 5,000 different plant species which are used for teaching, research and conservation. For instance, Bobart planted a yew tree in 1645, which was recently discovered to contain important cancer beating ingredients.   Jacob Bobart Junior is recorded as having “hideous features” and his wife “the ugliest of her sex” – a perfect match. 

    Pencilin                 

Australian Howard Florey (1898-1968) arrived as a Rhodes Scholar (1921?) in Magdalen College (on the opposite side of the road) and returned in 1935 as a professor and Fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford.  Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) had discovered Penicillin in 1927, but it was Howard and his team who demonstrated its effective use on humans.

Penicillin Plaque

 An Oxford policeman was on the verge of death and was saved by them administering the drug.  He died five days later, but only because they ran out of penicillin. Many Allied troops were saved during World War II because of this discovery, and millions have benefited since.  A plaque honouring Florey and his colleagues is in front of the Botanic gardens.

More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 1 available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk