Sir Harry Veitch

Portrait of Harry Veitch who was an eminent English horticulturist. The Exeter firm of Veitch & Sons became one of Britain’s most important horticultural firms. Employees travelled the world in search of botanical specimens. Between 1840 and 1880 they went to South America, South-east Asia, India, Japan, China, the Pacific Islands and Africa. In amongst the carefully packed botanical specimens were sometimes placed ethnographic objects, which were later to find a home at RAMM.

In the background is a vase of flowers. They are an orchid called Masdevallia veitchiana which is native to Peru. In 1867 German botanist and leading authority on orchids Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach described this species for western science for the first time. He named it in honour of Veitch, his nursery and plant hunters as they were the first to import, cultivate and flower this species in Europe. In his hand Veitch holds a magnifying lens.