An Exhausted Colonial Botanist: Charles Ford and Hong Kong Botanical Gardens, 1871–1902

Through an analysis of government reports and correspondence preserved in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, this article explores the experiences of Charles Ford, the second superintendent of the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens in reconciling the conflicts between the imperial scientific institution and the colonial government. As one of the key scientific institutions owned by the British in the Far East, the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens became a contested space where various imperial and colonial ideas, plans, and strategies collided. This article will demonstrate that while Kew Gardens envisioned Hong Kong as the headquarters for investigating China, colonial administrators regarded the gardens as a recreational area, obstructing its scientific services both directly and covertly. Although Ford managed to reconcile these conflicts, the heavy workload took a toll on him both physically and mentally, leading to his retirement from colonial service in Hong Kong. By examining Ford’s career, this article illustrates how a colonial botanist navigated the complexities and overlapping nature of imperial and colonial projects concerning the management of colonial botanical gardens.