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	Wallich Nathaniel Wallich Singapore Botanic Gardens Botanic Garden Experimental Garden Fort Canning Hill Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles garden Danish surgeon Botany Copenhagen, Denmark London, England Botanical Mount Wallich

By Ong, Christopher written on 2009-02-10
National Library Board Singapore

Comments on article: InfopediaTalk

Nathaniel Wallich (b. 28 January, 1786, Copenhagen, Denmark d. 28 April, 1854, London, England) was a respected Danish surgeon and naturalist. He was instrumental in founding the forerunner of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the Singapore's Botanical & Experimental Garden in 1822. It is at what is today Fort Canning Hill.

Early Life

Wallich was the son of Wolf Lazarus Wallich, a merchant, and leader in one M.L. Nathansons Reform Party, which was mainly responsible for Jews being granted full Danish citizenship in 1814. In 1806, Wallich graduated from the Danish Academy of Surgeons with a diploma. 

He began his career with the Danish East India Company's medical service in October 1807, at their main settlement in Serampore, West Bengal. This settlement had fallen into English hands during a war in 1801, but was returned to the Danes under the Peace of Amiens in 1802. However, the renewal of hostilities between Denmark and England saw the settlement again falling under English control in 1808, with Wallich amongst those captured. During this time, Wallich was paroled and allowed to work for the English East India Company's Bengal medical services. It was also then that botany developed into his main passion, as he became assistant to William Roxburgh, Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden in 1809. Francis Buchanan succeeded Roxburgh in 1815, but only lasted 6 months in the job before ill health forced him to resign - allowing Wallich to succeed him on a temporary basis that October. Later, in August 1817, Wallich's post as Superintendent was made permanent.

Accomplishments

In 1822, Wallich fell ill during a trip to Singapore. In a bid to recover, he took up residence in a house called Botany Hall, on a hill that was later named Mount Wallich after him. During his five-month convalescence, he spent several hours in the company of good friend Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Since 1819, Raffles had been toying with the idea of establishing a botanic garden in Singapore. He used this time to persuade Wallich to write a glowing report aimed at persuading the government into starting a botanic and experimental garden. Indeed, in one letter to Raffles dated November 1822, Wallich had described Singapore as such, "It abounds in an endless variety of plants equally interesting to the botanist, the agriculturist and the gardener, with unrivalled facilities and opportunities of disseminating these treasures and exchanging them for others". That same year, Wallich was also part of a committee tasked by Raffles to report on whether the Singapore River's southern bank was suitably hygienic for building purposes. 

Three years before, the construction of Raffles bungalow on Government Hill (which is today Fort Canning Hill) had already seen an experimental garden being laid out in the vicinity, with some 125 nutmeg trees, 1,000 seeds of nutmeg, and 450 clove plants planted. But it was only in 1822, with Wallich's aid secured, that Raffles set about turning this garden into a 19-ha Botanical & Experimental Garden, the first of its kind in Singapore. However, while Wallich did play an important role in the garden's founding by consistently playing advisor to Raffles, he was not as some suggest, its first Superintendent. Indeed, he had other commitments, such as the management of the Calcutta Botanic Garden, a position he held until April 1846. 

His work in India was often rewarding- in 1826 he became the first European known to gather specimens of teak while serving as an envoy to India's Governor-general, Lord Amherst, during the latter's negotiations with Burmese rulers. In the 1830s, under Wallich's stewardship, the Garden made the first systematic attempt to cultivate tea commercially in India. 

He also periodically provided the gardens and public institutions of both Denmark and the British Empire with unique flora. In one instance in 1828, he brought to London a huge collection of dried plants that he and other botanists gathered over the course of their travels since the turn of the century. Indeed, that haul of 8,000-10,000 species was one of the largest ever seen in Europe. From 1830 to 1832, he published his most important work, the Plantae asiaticae rariores. For his scientific contributions over the years, he received several plaudits from England and Denmark. Amongst others, he was made a Knight of Dannebrog by Denmark in 1818, the equivalent of knighthood in England. Later, he also became a member of the Royal Danish Society of Sciences and the Royal Medical Association of Copenhagen. In England, he was similarly fêted, earning entry into prestigious associations such as the Linnean Society, of which he became vice-president in 1849, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society. He was vice-president of the latter from 1852 to 1853.

Family
Father: Wolf Lazarus Wallich, a merchant, and leader in M.L. Nathansons Reform Party 
Wives: Wallich had two wives. He married the first, Julia Maria Hals, in 1812 at Serampore. Sadly, she died soon after. He married the second, Sophia Collins, in 1815. 
Children: Wallich had 3 sons, George, David and Leonard, and 4 daughters, of whom only the eldest daughters name is known- Hannah Sarah. Of all his children, Wallich was particularly close to her. 

Author

Christopher Ong

References
Arnold, D. (2008). Plant capitalism and company science: The Indian career of Nathaniel Wallich. Modern Asian Studies, 42(5), 899-928.
(Call no.: R 950 MAS)

Bradlow, E. (1998). Nathaniel Wallich: A man for all seasons. Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library, 52(3), 96-108. Retrieved on January 3, 2009 from EBSCOhost database.

Davidson, J. (Ed.). (1993). Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles: Book of days. Singapore: Antiques of the Orient.

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Koh, T., Auger, T., Yap, J., & Ng, W. C. (Eds.). (2006). Singapore: The encyclopedia. Singapore: Editions Didiet Millet (in association with the National Heritage Board). 

(Call no.: RSING 959.57003 SIN - [HIS])

Makepeace, W., Brooke, G. E., & Braddell, R. St. J. (Eds.). (1991). One hundred years of Singapore (Vol: 1, pp. 65, 487). New York: Oxford University Press. 

(Call no.: RSING 959.57 ONE - [HIS])

Sanson, V. (1992). Gardens and parks of Singapore. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Singapore Botanic Gardens. (2007). Our history. Retrieved January 5, 2009, from http://www.sbg.org.sg/aboutus/ourhistory.asp

Tinsley, B. (1983). Singapore Green: A history and guide to the Botanic Gardens. Singapore: Times Books International. 

(Call no.: RSING 580.7445957 TIN)

Tinsley, B. (1989). Visions of delight: The Singapore Botanic Gardens through the ages. Singapore: Tien Wah Press. 

(Call no.: RSING 580.74459597 TIN)

Turnbull, C. M. (1989). A history of Singapore: 1819-1988 second edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

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