Giant Snowdrop

Galanthus elwesii, photographed in a roadside planting near my place of work, named after H.J. Elwes

Henry John Elwes, FRS (1846 - 1922) was a British botanist, entomologist, author, lepidopterist, naturalist, collector and traveller who became renowned for collecting specimens of lilies during trips to the Himalayas and Korea. He was the first person to receive the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897.

An archetypal Victorian English Gentleman, Elwes was the eldest son of J. H. Elwes of Colesbourne Park near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was described as "a giant of a man, and a very dominating character", with "a booming voice which carried well across his Gloucestershire estate, but was very disconcerting elsewhere"

You can still see one of the most extensive UK snowdrop displays at Colesbourne today.