Unsung Hero In Local Botanical History

Story from centre's 2020 themed exhibition Ecology in the Making

At the doorstep of the exhibition, a huge painting album comes into view, displaying 20 copies of watercolor paintings depicting local botanical species. The paintings precisely illustrate the structural details of plants, like the texture of leaves, thickness of rhizomes and contrasting colours of flowers. All of these species can be found at Lung Fu Shan and The Peak nowadays. In fact, these exquisite pieces with around 170 years of history are the works of an unacknowledged British soldier in Hong Kong.

John Eyre was a British soldier who served in Hong Kong from 1847 – 1851. He was good at painting and decided to record Hong Kong plants using water colours. Therefore, John visited all mountain trails in Hong Kong Island to collect seeds and practiced sketching. During this period, he completed over 200 water paintings and recorded the time and location at which he came across the plants, which served as a comprehensive ecological record. In hopes of contributing to botanical research, John wanted to donate his paintings and records to Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew. Regrettably, John’s health worsened after his retirement and he was never able to witness his work on display at Kew. His pieces finally arrived at Kew, but his contribution was largely forgotten.

Last year, it so happened that Maxime Decaudin, one of the co-curators of this exhibition, visited Kew Gardens and coincidentally came across John’s work. He learnt from a staff member there that John’s work has never been displayed nor archived digitally before. Thanks to Max’s encounter, we now have the opportunity to appreciate these pieces. Over the last century, Hong Kong has seen drastic developments. Some of the plants drawn by John have had their names altered. In spite of these changes, we can still identify each and every species in his botanical paintings. Flowers which blossomed in his era still grow in Lung Fu Shan and The Peak today.

This is a hundred-year-old story we have unearthed. Will you join us in discovering more about John Eyre through the exhibition - Ecology in the Making?

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