Celebrating the life of Jean Bowden

Jean Bowden
Image reproduced from the Alton Herald.

Spotted in yesterday's Alton Herald - an obituary of Jean Bowden, who held various posts at Kew during a period when such opportunities were hard to come by for female botanists. 

She was higher scientific officer at Kew Museums of Economic Botany, from which she was apparently the first woman to be sent abroad on a field excursion. Jean was also the author of a book on John Lightfoot, whose herbarium specimens she worked on while at Kew. 

Later on she "worked in the editorial department of the Kew Bulletin 1984" and ended her career by becoming the curator of Jane Austen's house. 

Do click on the links and enjoy reading about Jean Bowden's fascinating career, whether cycling twenty miles a day to the Herbarium at Kew, or making sure that the cut flowers in Jane Austen's house were historically accurate!