Ellen Willmott

Ellen Ann Willmott was an English horticulturist. She was an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a recipient of the first Victoria Medal of Honour, awarded to British horticulturists living in the UK by the society, in 1897. Willmott was said to have cultivated more than 100,000 species and cultivars of plants and sponsored expeditions to discover new species. Inherited wealth allowed Willmott to buy large gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex. More than 60 plants have been named after her or her home, Warley Place.

19 August 1858

Born on the same birth day (19 August): Dennis Poore • Diana Muldaur • Ian Gillan • Maurice Wilks • Missy Higgins • Nick Kennedy • Taylor Pyatt

Born in the same month (August 1858): Arthur Achleitner • Christiaan Eijkman • E. Nesbit • Gaston Doumergue • Giuseppe Peano • Hans Rott • Ignaz Sowinski • Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria